Automation of data storage activities

ABSTRACT

A system receives data storage workflow activities that include computer-executable instructions for carrying out data storage workflow in a network data storage system. Once the workflow is received, the system deploys the workflow to one or more workflow engines that can execute the various data storage activities related to the workflow. Prior to executing a data storage activity, the system can determine which workflow engine to use based on an allocation scheme.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/017,250, filed Feb. 5, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/787,152, filed Mar. 6, 2013, entitled AUTOMATIONOF DATA STORAGE ACTIVITIES, which claims priority benefit to U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/615,037 filed Mar. 23, 2012, entitledAUTOMATION OF DATA STORAGE ACTIVITIES, each of which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Businesses worldwide recognize the commercial value of their data andseek reliable, cost-effective ways to protect the information stored ontheir computer networks while minimizing impact on productivity.Protecting information is often part of a routine process that isperformed within an organization.

A company might back up critical computing systems such as databases,file servers, web servers, and so on as part of a daily, weekly, ormonthly maintenance schedule. The company may similarly protectcomputing systems used by each of its employees, such as those used byan accounting department, marketing department, engineering department,and so forth.

Given the rapidly expanding volume of data under management, companiesalso continue to seek innovative techniques for managing data growth, inaddition to protecting data. For instance, companies often implementmigration techniques for moving data to lower cost storage over time anddata reduction techniques for reducing redundant data, pruning lowerpriority data, etc.

Enterprises also increasingly view their stored data as a valuableasset. Along these lines, customers are looking for solutions that notonly protect and manage, but also leverage their data. For instance,solutions providing data analysis capabilities, improved datapresentation and access features, and the like, are in increasingdemand.

In addition, as enterprises are storing and backing up ever increasingamounts of data, the ability to store and back up properly and quicklyhas become increasingly complex. The increased complexity formaintaining and restoring data has placed heavy demands on systemadministrators who are tasked with ensuring the data is stored andbacked up efficiently and cost-effectively. System administrators mayspend significant amounts of time monitoring the processes involved withdifferent storage operations and ensuring they are completedsuccessfully.

SUMMARY

A system is described that allows a user to design data storage systemworkflows by selecting on a user interface various data objectsassociated with data storage system related activities. The activitiesinclude computer-executable instructions and can be predefined ordetermined by the user. Once the workflow is created, the workflow isdeployed to one or more workflow engines that can execute the variousdata storage activities related to the workflow. Prior to executing adata storage activity, the storage manager can determine which workflowengine to use based on an allocation scheme.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1B is a detailed view of a primary storage device, a secondarystorage device, and some examples of primary data and secondary copydata.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of an exemplary information management systemincluding a storage manager, one or more data agents, and one or moremedia agents.

FIG. 1D is a block diagram illustrating a scalable informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1E illustrates certain secondary copy operations according to anexemplary storage policy.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram illustrative of an embodiment of anetworked storage system.

FIG. 3A depicts an illustrative user interface that enables a user toprepare a workflow for a networked storage system.

FIG. 3B depicts an illustrative user interface that enables a user toview the properties of a workflow activity.

FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram illustrative of embodiments of a routine forgenerating workflow suite.

FIG. 5 shows a flow diagram illustrative of embodiments of a routine forallocating workflow assignments between workflow engines.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally described, the present disclosure is directed to a system,method, and computer-readable storage medium for a storage managementsystem. Specifically, embodiments described herein include systems andmethods for generating and implementing an automated workflow for anetworked storage system. For instance, a graphical user interface(e.g., a drag and drop interface) is provided allowing a user tointuitively design the desired workflow. The system can then generateand execute the automated workflow based on the user's input. Furtherembodiments provide intelligent allocation of workflow task execution.For instance, the system can distribute automation tasks to members of aworkflow engine pool in order to balance resource usage, reduceautomation time, or provide other advantages.

In general, the automated workflow manages a series of workflowactivities, or tasks, to produce a final outcome or outcomes. Theworkflow may run over an extended period of time, for example, such asmultiple hours, days, weeks, months, years, or longer. Furthermore,subsequent workflow activities of the workflow generally followpreceding workflow activities. Moreover, the automated activities mayhave dependencies. For instance, the activities can be dependent on thecompletion of one or more of the other data storage workflow activities,user input, or some other factor. As the various workflow activities arecompleted additional workflow activities are initiated or invoked. Onceall the workflow activities are completed, the workflow can end.

As just one illustrative example, one or more client computers in a datastorage system may generate production data associated with various userapplications running on the clients. And a user may want to automate thescheduled creation of secondary copies of the production data.Embodiments described herein allow the user to create a data storageworkflow to automate this process. For instance, the user can select forinclusion in the workflow a number of pre-configured or user-definabledata storage activities. As just two examples, these activities mayinclude (1) a data store backup activity which executes the actualcreation of the secondary copy and (2) a backup monitoring activitywhich monitors the results (e.g., success or failure) of the secondarycopy operation. The automated workflow may run generally continuously,automatically launching the data store backup activity at the scheduledbackup times (e.g., at discrete times each week). Moreover, theautomation system may also launch the backup monitoring activity, aftercompletion of the data backup activity, or when otherwise appropriate.

According to certain aspects, the workflow management system includes auser interface that allows users to intuitively select and relateworkflow activities together to define a workflow. In some embodiments,the workflow activities are data storage activities and the workflow isa data storage workflow. For example, users can drag-and-drop and thenrelate display objects that represent the various data storage workflowactivities in the user interface. Based on the user input, the datastorage workflow system generates a workflow for execution.

According to additional aspects, once the automated workflow is defined,the workflow is deployed to one or more workflow engines that canexecute the workflow activities. When a workflow event occurs, thestorage management system can select which computing device will executethe workflow activity based on a number of different criteria, such asmeasured activity levels of the workflow engines, for example.

Information Management System Overview

With the increasing importance of protecting and leveraging data,organizations simply cannot afford to take the risk of losing criticaldata. Moreover, runaway data growth and other modern realities makeprotecting and managing data an increasingly difficult task. There istherefore a need for efficient, powerful, and user-friendly solutionsfor protecting and managing data.

Depending on the size of the organization, there are typically many dataproduction sources which are under the purview of tens, hundreds, oreven thousands of employees or other individuals. In the past,individual employees were sometimes responsible for managing andprotecting their data. A patchwork of hardware and software pointsolutions have been applied in other cases. These solutions were oftenprovided by different vendors and had limited or no interoperability.

Certain embodiments described herein provide systems and methods capableof addressing these and other shortcomings of prior approaches byimplementing unified, organization-wide information management. FIG. 1Ashows one such information management system 100, which generallyincludes combinations of hardware and software configured to protect andmanage data and metadata generated and used by the various computingdevices in the information management system 100.

The organization which employs the information management system 100 maybe a corporation or other business entity, non-profit organization,educational institution, household, governmental agency, or the like.

Generally, the systems and associated components described herein may becompatible with and/or provide some or all of the functionality of thesystems and corresponding components described in one or more of thefollowing U.S. patents and patent application publications assigned toCommVault Systems, Inc., each of which is hereby incorporated in itsentirety by reference herein:

-   -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2010-0332456, entitled “DATA OBJECT STORE AND        SERVER FOR A CLOUD STORAGE ENVIRONMENT, INCLUDING DATA        DEDUPLICATION AND DATA MANAGEMENT ACROSS MULTIPLE CLOUD STORAGE        SITES”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, entitled “MODULAR BACKUP AND RETRIEVAL        SYSTEM USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH A STORAGE AREA NETWORK”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, entitled “HIERARCHICAL SYSTEMS AND        METHODS FOR PROVIDING A UNIFIED VIEW OF STORAGE INFORMATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,282, entitled “HIERARCHICAL BACKUP AND        RETRIEVAL SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR        DYNAMICALLY PERFORMING STORAGE OPERATIONS IN A COMPUTER        NETWORK”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,579, entitled “METABASE FOR FACILITATING        DATA CLASSIFICATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,229,954, entitled “MANAGING COPIES OF DATA”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR        MONITORING APPLICATION DATA IN A DATA REPLICATION SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR        PERFORMING A SNAPSHOT AND FOR RESTORING DATA”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR        PERFORMING AUXILIARY STORAGE OPERATIONS”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652, entitled “CONTENT-ALIGNED, BLOCK-BASED        DEDUPLICATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD TO        SUPPORT SINGLE INSTANCE STORAGE OPERATIONS”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0329534, entitled “APPLICATION-AWARE AND        REMOTE SINGLE INSTANCE DATA MANAGEMENT”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, entitled “DISTRIBUTED        DEDUPLICATED STORAGE SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150818, entitled “CLIENT-SIDE        REPOSITORY IN A NETWORKED DEDUPLICATED STORAGE SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OFFLINE        INDEXING OF CONTENT AND CLASSIFYING STORED DATA”; and    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,086, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR        STORED DATA VERIFICATION”.

The illustrated information management system 100 includes one or moreclient computing device 102 having at least one application 110executing thereon, and one or more primary storage devices 104 storingprimary data 112. The client computing device(s) 102 and the primarystorage devices 104 may generally be referred to in some cases as aprimary storage subsystem 117.

Depending on the context, the term “information management system” canrefer to generally all of the illustrated hardware and softwarecomponents. Or, in other instances, the term may refer to only a subsetof the illustrated components.

For instance, in some cases information management system 100 generallyrefers to a combination of specialized components used to protect, move,manage, manipulate and/or process data and metadata generated by theclient computing devices 102. However, the term may generally not referto the underlying components that generate and/or store the primary data112, such as the client computing devices 102 themselves, theapplications 110 and operating system residing on the client computingdevices 102, and the primary storage devices 104.

As an example, “information management system” may sometimes refer onlyto one or more of the following components and corresponding datastructures: storage managers, data agents, and media agents. Thesecomponents will be described in further detail below.

Client Computing Devices

There are typically a variety of sources in an organization that producedata to be protected and managed. As just one illustrative example, in acorporate environment such data sources can be employee workstations andcompany servers such as a mail server, a web server, or the like. In theinformation management system 100, the data generation sources includethe one or more client computing devices 102.

The client computing devices 102 may include, without limitation, one ormore: workstations, personal computers, desktop computers, or othertypes of generally fixed computing systems such as mainframe computersand minicomputers.

The client computing devices 102 can also include mobile or portablecomputing devices, such as one or more laptops, tablet computers,personal data assistants, mobile phones (such as smartphones), and othermobile or portable computing devices such as embedded computers, set topboxes, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable computers, etc.

In some cases, each client computing device 102 is associated with oneor more users and/or corresponding user accounts, of employees or otherindividuals.

The term “client computing device” is used herein because theinformation management system 100 generally “serves” the data managementand protection needs for the data generated by the client computingdevices 102. However, the use of this term does not imply that theclient computing devices 102 cannot be “servers” in other respects. Forinstance, a particular client computing device 102 may act as a serverwith respect to other devices, such as other client computing devices102. As just a few examples, the client computing devices 102 caninclude mail servers, file servers, database servers, and web servers.

The client computing devices 102 may additionally include virtualizedand/or cloud computing resources. For instance, one or more virtualmachines may be provided to the organization by a third-party cloudservice vendor. Or, in some embodiments, the client computing devices102 include one or more virtual machine(s) running on a virtual machinehost computing device operated by the organization. As one example, theorganization may use one virtual machine as a database server andanother virtual machine as a mail server. A virtual machine manager(VMM) (e.g., a Hypervisor) may manage the virtual machines, and resideand execute on the virtual machine host computing device.

Each client computing device 102 may have one or more applications 110(e.g., software applications) executing thereon which generate andmanipulate the data that is to be protected from loss.

The applications 110 generally facilitate the operations of anorganization (or multiple affiliated organizations), and can include,without limitation, mail server applications (e.g., Microsoft ExchangeServer), file server applications, mail client applications (e.g.,Microsoft Exchange Client), database applications (e.g., SQL, Oracle,SAP, Lotus Notes Database), word processing applications (e.g.,Microsoft Word), spreadsheet applications, financial applications,presentation applications, browser applications, mobile applications,entertainment applications, and so on.

The applications 110 can include at least one operating system (e.g.,Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, IBM z/OS, Linux, other Unix-basedoperating systems, etc.), which may support one or more file systems andhost the other applications 110.

As shown, the client computing devices 102 and other components in theinformation management system 100 can be connected to one another viaone or more communication pathways 114. The communication pathways 114can include one or more networks or other connection types including asany of following, without limitation: the Internet, a wide area network(WAN), a local area network (LAN), a Storage Area Network (SAN), a FibreChannel connection, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) connection,a virtual private network (VPN), a token ring or TCP/IP based network,an intranet network, a point-to-point link, a cellular network, awireless data transmission system, a two-way cable system, aninteractive kiosk network, a satellite network, a broadband network, abaseband network, other appropriate wired, wireless, or partiallywired/wireless computer or telecommunications networks, combinations ofthe same or the like. The communication pathways 114 in some cases mayalso include application programming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g.,cloud service provider APIs, virtual machine management APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs.

Primary Data and Exemplary Primary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 according to some embodiments is production data orother “live” data generated by the operating system and otherapplications 110 residing on a client computing device 102. The primarydata 112 is stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 and is organizedvia a file system supported by the client computing device 102. Forinstance, the client computing device(s) 102 and correspondingapplications 110 may create, access, modify, write, delete, andotherwise use primary data 112.

Primary data 112 is generally in the native format of the sourceapplication 110. According to certain aspects, primary data 112 is aninitial or first (e.g., created before any other copies or before atleast one other copy) stored copy of data generated by the sourceapplication 110. Primary data 112 in some cases is created substantiallydirectly from data generated by the corresponding source applications110.

The primary data 112 may sometimes be referred to as a “primary copy” inthe sense that it is a discrete set of data. However, the use of thisterm does not necessarily imply that the “primary copy” is a copy in thesense that it was copied or otherwise derived from another storedversion.

The primary storage devices 104 storing the primary data 112 may berelatively fast and/or expensive (e.g., a disk drive, a hard-disk array,solid state memory, etc.). In addition, primary data 112 may be intendedfor relatively short term retention (e.g., several hours, days, orweeks).

According to some embodiments, the client computing device 102 canaccess primary data 112 from the primary storage device 104 by makingconventional file system calls via the operating system. Primary data112 representing files may include structured data (e.g., databasefiles), unstructured data (e.g., documents), and/or semi-structureddata. Some specific examples are described below with respect to FIG.1B.

It can be useful in performing certain tasks to break the primary data112 up into units of different granularities. In general, primary data112 can include files, directories, file system volumes, data blocks,extents, or any other types or granularities of data objects. As usedherein, a “data object” can refer to both (1) any file that is currentlyaddressable by a file system or that was previously addressable by thefile system (e.g., an archive file) and (2) a subset of such a file.

As will be described in further detail, it can also be useful inperforming certain functions of the information management system 100 toaccess and modify metadata within the primary data 112. Metadatagenerally includes information about data objects or characteristicsassociated with the data objects.

Metadata can include, without limitation, one or more of the following:the data owner (e.g., the client or user that generates the data), thelast modified time (e.g., the time of the most recent modification ofthe data object), a data object name (e.g., a file name), a data objectsize (e.g., a number of bytes of data), information about the content(e.g., an indication as to the existence of a particular search term),to/from information for email (e.g., an email sender, recipient, etc.),creation date, file type (e.g., format or application type), lastaccessed time, application type (e.g., type of application thatgenerated the data object), location/network (e.g., a current, past orfuture location of the data object and network pathways to/from the dataobject), frequency of change (e.g., a period in which the data object ismodified), business unit (e.g., a group or department that generates,manages or is otherwise associated with the data object), and aginginformation (e.g., a schedule, such as a time period, in which the dataobject is migrated to secondary or long term storage), boot sectors,partition layouts, file location within a file folder directorystructure, user permissions, owners, groups, access control lists[ACLs]), system metadata (e.g., registry information), combinations ofthe same or the like.

In addition to metadata generated by or related to file systems andoperating systems, some of the applications 110 maintain indices ofmetadata for data objects, e.g., metadata associated with individualemail messages. Thus, each data object may be associated withcorresponding metadata. The use of metadata to perform classificationand other functions is described in greater detail below.

Each of the client computing devices 102 are associated with and/or incommunication with one or more of the primary storage devices 104storing corresponding primary data 112. A client computing device 102may be considered to be “associated with” or “in communication with” aprimary storage device 104 if it is capable of one or more of: storingdata to the primary storage device 104, retrieving data from the primarystorage device 104, and modifying data retrieved from a primary storagedevice 104.

The primary storage devices 104 can include, without limitation, diskdrives, hard-disk arrays, semiconductor memory (e.g., solid statedrives), and network attached storage (NAS) devices. In some cases, theprimary storage devices 104 form part of a distributed file system. Theprimary storage devices 104 may have relatively fast I/O times and/orare relatively expensive in comparison to the secondary storage devices108. For example, the information management system 100 may generallyregularly access data and metadata stored on primary storage devices104, whereas data and metadata stored on the secondary storage devices108 is accessed relatively less frequently.

In some cases, each primary storage device 104 is dedicated to anassociated client computing devices 102. For instance, a primary storagedevice 104 in one embodiment is a local disk drive of a correspondingclient computing device 102. In other cases, one or more primary storagedevices 104 can be shared by multiple client computing devices 102. Asone example, a primary storage device 104 can be a disk array shared bya group of client computing devices 102, such as one of the followingtypes of disk arrays: EMC Clariion, EMC Symmetrix, EMC Celerra, DellEqualLogic, IBM XIV, NetApp FAS, HP EVA, and HP 3PAR.

The information management system 100 may also include hosted services(not shown), which may be hosted in some cases by an entity other thanthe organization that employs the other components of the informationmanagement system 100. For instance, the hosted services may be providedby various online service providers to the organization. Such serviceproviders can provide services including social networking services,hosted email services, or hosted productivity applications or otherhosted applications).

Hosted services may include software-as-a-service (SaaS),platform-as-a-service (PaaS), application service providers (ASPs),cloud services, or other mechanisms for delivering functionality via anetwork. As it provides services to users, each hosted service maygenerate additional data and metadata under management of theinformation management system 100, e.g., as primary data 112. In somecases, the hosted services may be accessed using one of the applications110. As an example, a hosted mail service may be accessed via browserrunning on a client computing device 102.

Secondary Copies and Exemplary Secondary Storage Devices

The primary data 112 stored on the primary storage devices 104 may becompromised in some cases, such as when an employee deliberately oraccidentally deletes or overwrites primary data 112 during their normalcourse of work. Or the primary storage devices 104 can be damaged orotherwise corrupted.

For recovery and/or regulatory compliance purposes, it is thereforeuseful to generate copies of the primary data 112. Accordingly, theinformation management system 100 includes one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 and one or more secondary storage devices 108configured to create and store one or more secondary copies 116 of theprimary data 112 and associated metadata. The secondary storagecomputing devices 106 and the secondary storage devices 108 may bereferred to in some cases as a secondary storage subsystem 118.

Creation of secondary copies 116 can help meet information managementgoals, such as: restoring data and/or metadata if an original version(e.g., of primary data 112) is lost (e.g., by deletion, corruption, ordisaster); allowing point-in-time recovery; complying with regulatorydata retention and electronic discovery (e-discovery) requirements;reducing utilized storage capacity; facilitating organization and searchof data; improving user access to data files across multiple computingdevices and/or hosted services; and implementing data retentionpolicies.

Types of secondary copy operations can include, without limitation,backup operations, archive operations, snapshot operations, replicationoperations (e.g., continuous data replication [CDR]), data retentionpolicies such as information lifecycle management and hierarchicalstorage management operations, and the like. These specific typesoperations are discussed in greater detail below.

Regardless of the type of secondary copy operation, the client computingdevices 102 access or receive primary data 112 and communicate the data,e.g., over the communication pathways 114, for storage in the secondarystorage device(s) 108.

A secondary copy 116 can comprise a separate stored copy of applicationdata that is derived from one or more earlier created, stored copies(e.g., derived from primary data 112 or another secondary copy 116).Secondary copies 116 can include point-in-time data, and may be intendedfor relatively long-term retention (e.g., weeks, months or years),before some or all of the data is moved to other storage or isdiscarded.

In some cases, a secondary copy 116 is a copy of application datacreated and stored subsequent to at least one other stored instance(e.g., subsequent to corresponding primary data 112 or to anothersecondary copy 116), in a different storage device than at least oneprevious stored copy, and/or remotely from at least one previous storedcopy. Secondary copies 116 may be stored in relatively slow and/or lowcost storage (e.g., magnetic tape). A secondary copy 116 may be storedin a backup or archive format, or in some other format different thanthe native source application format or other primary data format.

In some cases, secondary copies 116 are indexed so users can browse andrestore at another point in time. After creation of a secondary copy 116representative of certain primary data 112, a pointer or other locationindicia (e.g., a stub) may be placed in primary data 112, or beotherwise associated with primary data 112 to indicate the currentlocation on the secondary storage device(s) 108.

Since an instance a data object or metadata in primary data 112 maychange over time as it is modified by an application 110 (or hostedservice or the operating system), the information management system 100may create and manage multiple secondary copies 116 of a particular dataobject or metadata, each representing the state of the data object inprimary data 112 at a particular point in time. Moreover, since aninstance of a data object in primary data 112 may eventually be deletedfrom the primary storage device 104 and the file system, the informationmanagement system 100 may continue to manage point-in-timerepresentations of that data object, even though the instance in primarydata 112 no longer exists.

For virtualized computing devices the operating system and otherapplications 110 of the client computing device(s) 102 may executewithin or under the management of virtualization software (e.g., a VMM),and the primary storage device(s) 104 may comprise a virtual diskcreated on a physical storage device. The information management system100 may create secondary copies 116 of the files or other data objectsin a virtual disk file and/or secondary copies 116 of the entire virtualdisk file itself (e.g., of an entire .vmdk file).

Secondary copies 116 may be distinguished from corresponding primarydata 112 in a variety of ways, some of which will now be described.First, as discussed, secondary copies 116 can be stored in a differentformat (e.g., backup, archive, or other non-native format) than primarydata 112. For this or other reasons, secondary copies 116 may not bedirectly useable by the applications 110 of the client computing device102, e.g., via standard system calls or otherwise without modification,processing, or other intervention by the information management system100.

Secondary copies 116 are also often stored on a secondary storage device108 that is inaccessible to the applications 110 running on the clientcomputing devices 102 (and/or hosted services). Some secondary copies116 may be “offline copies,” in that they are not readily available(e.g. not mounted to tape or disk). Offline copies can include copies ofdata that the information management system 100 can access without humanintervention (e.g. tapes within an automated tape library, but not yetmounted in a drive), and copies that the information management system100 can access only with at least some human intervention (e.g. tapeslocated at an offsite storage site).

The secondary storage devices 108 can include any suitable type ofstorage device such as, without limitation, one or more tape libraries,disk drives or other magnetic, non-tape storage devices, optical mediastorage devices, solid state storage devices, NAS devices, combinationsof the same, and the like. In some cases, the secondary storage devices108 are provided in a cloud (e.g. a private cloud or one operated by athird-party vendor).

The secondary storage device(s) 108 in some cases comprises a disk arrayor a portion thereof. In some cases, a single storage device (e.g., adisk array) is used for storing both primary data 112 and at least somesecondary copies 116. In one example, a disk array capable of performinghardware snapshots stores primary data 112 and creates and storeshardware snapshots of the primary data 112 as secondary copies 116.

The Use of Intermediary Devices for Creating Secondary Copies

Creating secondary copies can be a challenging task. For instance, therecan be hundreds or thousands of client computing devices 102 continuallygenerating large volumes of primary data 112 to be protected. Also,there can be significant overhead involved in the creation of secondarycopies 116. Moreover, secondary storage devices 108 may be specialpurpose components, and interacting with them can require specializedintelligence.

In some cases, the client computing devices 102 interact directly withthe secondary storage device 108 to create the secondary copies 116.However, in view of the factors described above, this approach cannegatively impact the ability of the client computing devices 102 toserve the applications 110 and produce primary data 112. Further, theclient computing devices 102 may not be optimized for interaction withthe secondary storage devices 108.

Thus, in some embodiments, the information management system 100includes one or more software and/or hardware components which generallyact as intermediaries between the client computing devices 102 and thesecondary storage devices 108. In addition to off-loading certainresponsibilities from the client computing devices 102, theseintermediary components can provide other benefits. For instance, asdiscussed further below with respect to FIG. 1D, distributing some ofthe work involved in creating secondary copies 116 can enhancescalability.

The intermediary components can include one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 as shown in FIG. 1A and/or one or more mediaagents, which can be software modules residing on correspondingsecondary storage computing devices 106 (or other appropriate devices).Media agents are discussed below (e.g., with respect to FIGS. 1C-1E).

The secondary storage computing device(s) 106 can comprise anyappropriate type of computing device and can include, withoutlimitation, any of the types of fixed and portable computing devicesdescribed above with respect to the client computing devices 102. Insome cases, the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 includespecialized hardware and/or software componentry for interacting withthe secondary storage devices 108.

To create a secondary copy 116, the client computing device 102communicates the primary data 112 to be copied (or a processed versionthereof) to the designated secondary storage computing device 106, viathe communication pathway 114. The secondary storage computing device106 in turn conveys the received data (or a processed version thereof)to the secondary storage device 108. In some such configurations, thecommunication pathway 114 between the client computing device 102 andthe secondary storage computing device 106 comprises a portion of a LAN,WAN or SAN. In other cases, at least some client computing devices 102communicate directly with the secondary storage devices 108 (e.g., viaFibre Channel or SCSI connections).

Exemplary Primary Data and an Exemplary Secondary Copy

FIG. 1B is a detailed view showing some specific examples of primarydata stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 and secondary copy datastored on the secondary storage device(s) 108, with other components inthe system removed for the purposes of illustration. Stored on theprimary storage device(s) 104 are primary data objects including wordprocessing documents 119A-B, spreadsheets 120, presentation documents122, video files 124, image files 126, email mailboxes 128 (andcorresponding email messages 129A-C), html/xml or other types of markuplanguage files 130, databases 132 and corresponding tables 133A-133C).

Some or all primary data objects are associated with a primary copy ofobject metadata (e.g., “Metal-11”), which may be file system metadataand/or application specific metadata. Stored on the secondary storagedevice(s) 108 are secondary copy objects 134A-C which may include copiesof or otherwise represent corresponding primary data objects andmetadata.

As shown, the secondary copy objects 134A-C can individually representmore than one primary data object. For example, secondary copy dataobject 134A represents three separate primary data objects 133C, 122 and129C (represented as 133C′, 122′ and 129C′, respectively). Moreover, asindicated by the prime mark (′), a secondary copy object may store arepresentation of a primary data object or metadata differently than theoriginal format, e.g., in a compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, orother modified format.

Exemplary Information Management System Architecture

The information management system 100 can incorporate a variety ofdifferent hardware and software components, which can in turn beorganized with respect to one another in many different configurations,depending on the embodiment. There are critical design choices involvedin specifying the functional responsibilities of the components and therole of each component in the information management system 100. Forinstance, as will be discussed, such design choices can impactperformance as well as the adaptability of the information managementsystem 100 to data growth or other changing circumstances.

FIG. 1C shows an information management system 100 designed according tothese considerations and which includes: a central storage orinformation manager 140 configured to perform certain control functions,one or more data agents 142 executing on the client computing device(s)102 configured to process primary data 112, and one or more media agents144 executing on the one or more secondary storage computing devices 106for performing tasks involving the secondary storage devices 108.

Storage Manager

As noted, the number of components in the information management system100 and the amount of data under management can be quite large. Managingthe components and data is therefore a significant task, and a task thatcan grow in an often unpredictable fashion as the quantity of componentsand data scale to meet the needs of the organization.

For these and other reasons, according to certain embodiments,responsibility for controlling the information management system 100, orat least a significant portion of that responsibility, is allocated tothe storage manager 140.

By distributing control functionality in this manner, the storagemanager 140 can be adapted independently according to changingcircumstances. Moreover, a host computing device can be selected to bestsuit the functions of the storage manager 140. These and otheradvantages are described in further detail below with respect to FIG.1D.

The storage manager 140 may be a software module or other application.The storage manager generally initiates, coordinates and/or controlsstorage and other information management operations performed by theinformation management system 100, e.g., to protect and control theprimary data 112 and secondary copies 116 of data and metadata.

As shown by the dashed, arrowed lines, the storage manager 140 maycommunicate with and/or control some or all elements of the informationmanagement system 100, such as the data agents 142 and media agents 144.Thus, in certain embodiments, control information originates from thestorage manager 140, whereas payload data and metadata is generallycommunicated between the data agents 142 and the media agents 144 (orotherwise between the client computing device(s) 102 and the secondarystorage computing device(s) 106), e.g., at the direction of the storagemanager 140. In other embodiments, some information managementoperations are controlled by other components in the informationmanagement system 100 (e.g., the media agent(s) 144 or data agent(s)142), instead of or in combination with the storage manager 140.

According to certain embodiments, the storage manager provides one ormore of the following functions:

-   -   initiating execution of secondary copy operations;    -   managing secondary storage devices 108 and inventory/capacity of        the same;    -   allocating secondary storage devices 108 for secondary storage        operations;    -   monitoring completion of and providing status reporting related        to secondary storage operations;    -   tracking age information relating to secondary copies 116,        secondary storage devices 108, and comparing the age information        against retention guidelines;    -   tracking movement of data within the information management        system 100;    -   tracking logical associations between components in the        information management system 100;    -   protecting metadata associated with the information management        system 100; and    -   implementing operations management functionality.

The storage manager 140 may maintain a database 146 ofmanagement-related data and information management policies 148. Thedatabase 146 may include a management index 150 or other data structurethat stores logical associations between components of the system, userpreferences and/or profiles (e.g., preferences regarding encryption,compression, or deduplication of primary or secondary copy data,preferences regarding the scheduling, type, or other aspects of primaryor secondary copy or other operations, mappings of particularinformation management users or user accounts to certain computingdevices or other components, etc.), management tasks, mediacontainerization, or other useful data. For example, the storage manager140 may use the index 150 to track logical associations between mediaagents 144 and secondary storage devices 108 and/or movement of datafrom primary storage devices 104 to secondary storage devices 108.

Administrators and other employees may be able to manually configure andinitiate certain information management operations on an individualbasis. But while this may be acceptable for some recovery operations orother relatively less frequent tasks, it is often not workable forimplementing on-going organization-wide data protection and management.

Thus, the information management system 100 may utilize informationmanagement policies 148 for specifying and executing informationmanagement operations (e.g., on an automated basis). Generally, aninformation management policy 148 can include a data structure or otherinformation source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteriaand rules) associated with storage or other information managementoperations.

The storage manager database 146 may maintain the information managementpolicies 148 and associated data, although the information managementpolicies 148 can be stored in any appropriate location. For instance, astorage policy may be stored as metadata in a media agent database 152or in a secondary storage device 108 (e.g., as an archive copy) for usein restore operations or other information management operations,depending on the embodiment. Information management policies 148 aredescribed further below.

According to certain embodiments, the storage manager database 146comprises a relational database (e.g., an SQL database) for trackingmetadata, such as metadata associated with secondary copy operations(e.g., what client computing devices 102 and corresponding data wereprotected). This and other metadata may additionally be stored in otherlocations, such as at the secondary storage computing devices 106 or onthe secondary storage devices 108, allowing data recovery without theuse of the storage manager 140.

As shown, the storage manager 140 may include a jobs agent 156, a userinterface 158, and a management agent 154, all of which may beimplemented as interconnected software modules or application programs.

The jobs agent 156 in some embodiments initiates, controls, and/ormonitors the status of some or all storage or other informationmanagement operations previously performed, currently being performed,or scheduled to be performed by the information management system 100.For instance, the jobs agent 156 may access information managementpolicies 148 to determine when and how to initiate and control secondarycopy and other information management operations, as will be discussedfurther.

The user interface 158 may include information processing and displaysoftware, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), an applicationprogram interface (“API”), or other interactive interface through whichusers and system processes can retrieve information about the status ofinformation management operations (e.g., storage operations) or issueinstructions to the information management system 100 and itsconstituent components.

The storage manager 140 may also track information that permits it toselect, designate, or otherwise identify content indices, deduplicationdatabases, or similar databases or resources or data sets within itsinformation management cell (or another cell) to be searched in responseto certain queries. Such queries may be entered by the user viainteraction with the user interface 158.

Via the user interface 158, users may optionally issue instructions tothe components in the information management system 100 regardingperformance of storage and recovery operations. For example, a user maymodify a schedule concerning the number of pending secondary copyoperations. As another example, a user may employ the GUI to view thestatus of pending storage operations or to monitor the status of certaincomponents in the information management system 100 (e.g., the amount ofcapacity left in a storage device).

In general, the management agent 154 allows multiple informationmanagement systems 100 to communicate with one another. For example, theinformation management system 100 in some cases may be one informationmanagement subsystem or “cell” of a network of multiple cells adjacentto one another or otherwise logically related in a WAN or LAN. With thisarrangement, the cells may be connected to one another throughrespective management agents 154.

For instance, the management agent 154 can provide the storage manager140 with the ability to communicate with other components within theinformation management system 100 (and/or other cells within a largerinformation management system) via network protocols and applicationprogramming interfaces (“APIs”) including, e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, REST,virtualization software APIs, cloud service provider APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs. Inter-cell communication and hierarchy isdescribed in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, which isincorporated by reference herein.

Data Agents

As discussed, a variety of different types of applications 110 canreside on a given client computing device 102, including operatingsystems, database applications, e-mail applications, and virtualmachines, just to name a few. And, as part of the as part of the processof creating and restoring secondary copies 116, the client computingdevices 102 may be tasked with processing and preparing the primary data112 from these various different applications 110. Moreover, the natureof the processing/preparation can differ across clients and applicationtypes, e.g., due to inherent structural and formatting differencesbetween applications 110.

The one or more data agent(s) 142 are therefore advantageouslyconfigured in some embodiments to assist in the performance ofinformation management operations based on the type of data that isbeing protected, at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.

The data agent 142 may be a software module or component that isgenerally responsible for managing, initiating, or otherwise assistingin the performance of information management operations. For instance,the data agent 142 may take part in performing data storage operationssuch as the copying, archiving, migrating, replicating of primary data112 stored in the primary storage device(s) 104. The data agent 142 mayreceive control information from the storage manager 140, such ascommands to transfer copies of data objects, metadata, and other payloaddata to the media agents 144.

In some embodiments, a data agent 142 may be distributed between theclient computing device 102 and storage manager 140 (and any otherintermediate components) or may be deployed from a remote location orits functions approximated by a remote process that performs some or allof the functions of data agent 142. In addition, a data agent 142 mayperform some functions provided by a media agent 144, e.g., encryptionand deduplication.

As indicated, each data agent 142 may be specialized for a particularapplication 110, and the system can employ multiple data agents 142,each of which may backup, migrate, and recover data associated with adifferent application 110. For instance, different individual dataagents 142 may be designed to handle Microsoft Exchange data, LotusNotes data, Microsoft Windows file system data, Microsoft ActiveDirectory Objects data, SQL Server data, SharePoint data, Oracledatabase data, SAP database data, virtual machines and/or associateddata, and other types of data.

A file system data agent, for example, may handle data files and/orother file system information. If a client computing device 102 has twoor more types of data, one data agent 142 may be used for each data typeto copy, archive, migrate, and restore the client computing device 102data. For example, to backup, migrate, and restore all of the data on aMicrosoft Exchange server, the client computing device 102 may use oneMicrosoft Exchange Mailbox data agent 142 to backup the Exchangemailboxes, one Microsoft Exchange Database data agent 142 to backup theExchange databases, one Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data agent 142to backup the Exchange Public Folders, and one Microsoft Windows FileSystem data agent 142 to backup the file system of the client computingdevice 102. In such embodiments, these data agents 142 may be treated asfour separate data agents 142 even though they reside on the same clientcomputing device 102.

Other embodiments may employ one or more generic data agents 142 thatcan handle and process data from two or more different applications 110,or that can handle and process multiple data types, instead of or inaddition to using specialized data agents 142. For example, one genericdata agent 142 may be used to back up, migrate and restore MicrosoftExchange Mailbox data and Microsoft Exchange Database data while anothergeneric data agent may handle Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data andMicrosoft Windows File System data.

Each data agent 142 may be configured to access data and/or metadatastored in the primary storage device(s) 104 associated with the dataagent 142 and process the data as appropriate. For example, during asecondary copy operation, the data agent 142 may arrange or assemble thedata and metadata into one or more files having a certain format (e.g.,a particular backup or archive format) before transferring the file(s)to a media agent 144 or other component. The file(s) may include a listof files or other metadata. Each data agent 142 can also assist inrestoring data or metadata to primary storage devices 104 from asecondary copy 116. For instance, the data agent 142 may operate inconjunction with the storage manager 140 and one or more of the mediaagents 144 to restore data from secondary storage device(s) 108.

Media Agents

As indicated above with respect to FIG. 1A, off-loading certainresponsibilities from the client computing devices 102 to intermediarycomponents such as the media agent(s) 144 can provide a number ofbenefits including improved client computing device 102 operation,faster secondary copy operation performance, and enhanced scalability.As one specific example which will be discussed below in further detail,the media agent 144 can act as a local cache of copied data and/ormetadata that it has stored to the secondary storage device(s) 108,providing improved restore capabilities.

Generally speaking, a media agent 144 may be implemented as a softwaremodule that manages, coordinates, and facilitates the transmission ofdata, as directed by the storage manager 140, between a client computingdevice 102 and one or more secondary storage devices 108. Whereas thestorage manager 140 controls the operation of the information managementsystem 100, the media agent 144 generally provides a portal to secondarystorage devices 108.

Media agents 144 can comprise logically and/or physically separate nodesin the information management system 100 (e.g., separate from the clientcomputing devices 102, storage manager 140, and/or secondary storagedevices 108). In addition, each media agent 144 may reside on adedicated secondary storage computing device 106 in some cases, while inother embodiments a plurality of media agents 144 reside on the samesecondary storage computing device 106.

A media agent 144 (and corresponding media agent database 152) may beconsidered to be “associated with” a particular secondary storage device108 if that media agent 144 is capable of one or more of: routing and/orstoring data to the particular secondary storage device 108,coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particularsecondary storage device 108, retrieving data from the particularsecondary storage device 108, and coordinating the retrieval of datafrom a particular secondary storage device 108.

While media agent(s) 144 are generally associated with one or moresecondary storage devices 108, the media agents 144 in certainembodiments are physically separate from the secondary storage devices108. For instance, the media agents 144 may reside on secondary storagecomputing devices 106 having different housings or packages than thesecondary storage devices 108. In one example, a media agent 144 resideson a first server computer and is in communication with a secondarystorage device(s) 108 residing in a separate, rack-mounted RAID-basedsystem.

In operation, a media agent 144 associated with a particular secondarystorage device 108 may instruct the secondary storage device 108 (e.g.,a tape library) to use a robotic arm or other retrieval means to load oreject a certain storage media, and to subsequently archive, migrate, orretrieve data to or from that media, e.g., for the purpose of restoringthe data to a client computing device 102. The media agent 144 maycommunicate with a secondary storage device 108 via a suitablecommunications link, such as a SCSI or Fiber Channel link.

As shown, each media agent 144 may maintain an associated media agentdatabase 152. The media agent database 152 may be stored in a disk orother storage device (not shown) that is local to the secondary storagecomputing device 106 on which the media agent 144 resides. In othercases, the media agent database 152 is stored remotely from thesecondary storage computing device 106.

The media agent database 152 can include, among other things, an index153 including data generated during secondary copy operations and otherstorage or information management operations. The index 153 provides amedia agent 144 or other component with a fast and efficient mechanismfor locating secondary copies 116 or other data stored in the secondarystorage devices 108. In one configuration, a storage manager index 150or other data structure may store data associating a client computingdevice 102 with a particular media agent 144 and/or secondary storagedevice 108, as specified in a storage policy. A media agent index 153 orother data structure associated with the particular media agent 144 mayin turn include information about the stored data.

For instance, for each secondary copy 116, the index 153 may includemetadata such as a list of the data objects (e.g., files/subdirectories,database objects, mailbox objects, etc.), a path to the secondary copy116 on the corresponding secondary storage device 108, locationinformation indicating where the data objects are stored in thesecondary storage device 108, when the data objects were created ormodified, etc. Thus, the index 153 includes metadata associated with thesecondary copies 116 that is readily available for use in storageoperations and other activities without having to be first retrievedfrom the secondary storage device 108. In yet further embodiments, someor all of the data in the index 153 may instead or additionally bestored along with the data in a secondary storage device 108, e.g., witha copy of the index 153.

Because the index 153 maintained in the database 152 may operate as acache, it can also be referred to as an index cache. In such cases,information stored in the index cache 153 typically comprises data thatreflects certain particulars about storage operations that have occurredrelatively recently. After some triggering event, such as after acertain period of time elapses, or the index cache 153 reaches aparticular size, the index cache 153 may be copied or migrated to asecondary storage device(s) 108. This information may need to beretrieved and uploaded back into the index cache 153 or otherwiserestored to a media agent 144 to facilitate retrieval of data from thesecondary storage device(s) 108. In some embodiments, the cachedinformation may include format or containerization information relatedto archives or other files stored on the storage device(s) 108. In thismanner, the index cache 153 allows for accelerated restores.

In some alternative embodiments the media agent 144 generally acts as acoordinator or facilitator of storage operations between clientcomputing devices 102 and corresponding secondary storage devices 108,but does not actually write the data to the secondary storage device108. For instance, the storage manager 140 (or the media agent 144) mayinstruct a client computing device 102 and secondary storage device 108to communicate with one another directly. In such a case the clientcomputing device 102 transmits the data directly to the secondarystorage device 108 according to the received instructions, and viceversa. In some such cases, the media agent 144 may still receive,process, and/or maintain metadata related to the storage operations.Moreover, in these embodiments, the payload data can flow through themedia agent 144 for the purposes of populating the index cache 153maintained in the media agent database 152, but not for writing to thesecondary storage device 108.

The media agent 144 and/or other components such as the storage manager140 may in some cases incorporate additional functionality, such as dataclassification, content indexing, deduplication, encryption,compression, and the like. Further details regarding these and otherfunctions are described below.

Distributed, Scalable Architecture

As described, certain functions of the information management system 100can be distributed amongst various physical and/or logical components inthe system. For instance, one or more of the storage manager 140, dataagents 142, and media agents 144 may reside on computing devices thatare physically separate from one another. This architecture can providea number of benefits.

For instance, hardware and software design choices for each distributedcomponent can be targeted to suit its particular function. The secondarycomputing devices 106 on which the media agents 144 reside can betailored for interaction with associated secondary storage devices 108and provide fast index cache operation, among other specific tasks.Similarly, the client computing device(s) 102 can be selected toeffectively service the applications 110 residing thereon, in order toefficiently produce and store primary data 112.

Moreover, in some cases, one or more of the individual components in theinformation management system 100 can be distributed to multiple,separate computing devices. As one example, for large file systems wherethe amount of data stored in the storage management database 146 isrelatively large, the management database 146 may be migrated to orotherwise reside on a specialized database server (e.g., an SQL server)separate from a server that implements the other functions of thestorage manager 140. This configuration can provide added protectionbecause the database 146 can be protected with standard databaseutilities (e.g., SQL log shipping or database replication) independentfrom other functions of the storage manager 140. The database 146 can beefficiently replicated to a remote site for use in the event of adisaster or other data loss incident at the primary site. Or thedatabase 146 can be replicated to another computing device within thesame site, such as to a higher performance machine in the event that astorage manager host device can no longer service the needs of a growinginformation management system 100.

The distributed architecture also provides both scalability andefficient component utilization. FIG. 1D shows an embodiment of theinformation management system 100 including a plurality of clientcomputing devices 102 and associated data agents 142 as well as aplurality of secondary storage computing devices 106 and associatedmedia agents 144.

Additional components can be added or subtracted based on the evolvingneeds of the information management system 100. For instance, dependingon where bottlenecks are identified, administrators can add additionalclient computing devices 102, secondary storage devices 106 (andcorresponding media agents 144), and/or secondary storage devices 108.

Moreover, each client computing device 102 in some embodiments cancommunicate with any of the media agents 144, e.g., as directed by thestorage manager 140. And each media agent 144 may be able to communicatewith any of the secondary storage devices 108, e.g., as directed by thestorage manager 140. Thus, operations can be routed to the secondarystorage devices 108 in a dynamic and highly flexible manner. Furtherexamples of scalable systems capable of dynamic storage operations areprovided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, which is incorporated by referenceherein.

In alternative configurations, certain components are not distributedand may instead reside and execute on the same computing device. Forexample, in some embodiments one or more data agents 142 and the storagemanager 140 reside on the same client computing device 102. In anotherembodiment, one or more data agents 142 and one or more media agents 144reside on a single computing device.

Exemplary Types of Information Management Operations

In order to protect and leverage stored data, the information managementsystem 100 can be configured to perform a variety of informationmanagement operations. As will be described, these operations cangenerally include secondary copy and other data movement operations,processing and data manipulation operations, and management operations.

Data Movement Operations

Data movement operations according to certain embodiments are generallyoperations that involve the copying or migration of data (e.g., payloaddata) between different locations in the information management system100. For example, data movement operations can include operations inwhich stored data is copied, migrated, or otherwise transferred fromprimary storage device(s) 104 to secondary storage device(s) 108, fromsecondary storage device(s) 108 to different secondary storage device(s)108, or from primary storage device(s) 104 to different primary storagedevice(s) 104.

Data movement operations can include by way of example, backupoperations, archive operations, information lifecycle managementoperations such as hierarchical storage management operations,replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication operations),snapshot operations, deduplication operations, single-instancingoperations, auxiliary copy operations, and the like. As will bediscussed, some of these operations involve the copying, migration orother movement of data, without actually creating multiple, distinctcopies. Nonetheless, some or all of these operations are referred to as“copy” operations for simplicity.

Backup Operations

A backup operation creates a copy of primary data 112 at a particularpoint in time. Each subsequent backup copy may be maintainedindependently of the first. Further, a backup copy in some embodimentsis stored in a backup format. This can be in contrast to the version inprimary data 112 from which the backup copy is derived, and which mayinstead be stored in a native format of the source application(s) 110.In various cases, backup copies can be stored in a format in which thedata is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modifiedfrom the original application format. For example, a backup copy may bestored in a backup format that facilitates compression and/or efficientlong-term storage.

Backup copies can have relatively long retention periods as compared toprimary data 112, and may be stored on media with slower retrieval timesthan primary data 112 and certain other types of secondary copies 116.On the other hand, backups may have relatively shorter retention periodsthan some other types of secondary copies 116, such as archive copies(described below). Backups may sometimes be stored at on offsitelocation.

Backup operations can include full, synthetic or incremental backups. Afull backup in some embodiments is generally a complete image of thedata to be protected. However, because full backup copies can consume arelatively large amount of storage, it can be useful to use a fullbackup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the fullbackup copy for subsequent backup copies.

For instance, a differential backup operation (or cumulative incrementalbackup operation) tracks and stores changes that have occurred since thelast full backup. Differential backups can grow quickly in size, but canprovide relatively efficient restore times because a restore can becompleted in some cases using only the full backup copy and the latestdifferential copy.

An incremental backup operation generally tracks and stores changessince the most recent backup copy of any type, which can greatly reducestorage utilization. In some cases, however, restore times can berelatively long in comparison to full or differential backups becausecompleting a restore operation may involve accessing a full backup inaddition to multiple incremental backups.

Any of the above types of backup operations can be at the file-level,e.g., where the information management system 100 generally trackschanges to files at the file-level, and includes copies of files in thebackup copy. In other cases, block-level backups are employed, wherefiles are broken into constituent blocks, and changes are tracked at theblock-level. Upon restore, the information management system 100reassembles the blocks into files in a transparent fashion.

Far less data may actually be transferred and copied to the secondarystorage devices 108 during a block-level copy than during a file-levelcopy, resulting in faster execution times. However, when restoring ablock-level copy, the process of locating constituent blocks cansometimes result in longer restore times as compared to file-levelbackups. Similar to backup operations, the other types of secondary copyoperations described herein can also be implemented at either thefile-level or the block-level.

Archive Operations

Because backup operations generally involve maintaining a version of thecopied data in primary data 112 and also maintaining backup copies insecondary storage device(s) 108, they can consume significant storagecapacity. To help reduce storage consumption, an archive operationaccording to certain embodiments creates a secondary copy 116 by bothcopying and removing source data. Or, seen another way, archiveoperations can involve moving some or all of the source data to thearchive destination. Thus, data satisfying criteria for removal (e.g.,data of a threshold age or size) from the source copy may be removedfrom source storage. Archive copies are sometimes stored in an archiveformat or other non-native application format. The source data may beprimary data 112 or a secondary copy 116, depending on the situation. Aswith backup copies, archive copies can be stored in a format in whichthe data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwisemodified from the original application format.

In addition, archive copies may be retained for relatively long periodsof time (e.g., years) and, in some cases, are never deleted. Archivecopies are generally retained for longer periods of time than backupcopies, for example. In certain embodiments, archive copies may be madeand kept for extended periods in order to meet compliance regulations.

Moreover, when primary data 112 is archived, in some cases the archivedprimary data 112 or a portion thereof is deleted when creating thearchive copy. Thus, archiving can serve the purpose of freeing up spacein the primary storage device(s) 104. Similarly, when a secondary copy116 is archived, the secondary copy 116 may be deleted, and an archivecopy can therefore serve the purpose of freeing up space in secondarystorage device(s) 108. In contrast, source copies often remain intactwhen creating backup copies.

Snapshot Operations

Snapshot operations can provide a relatively lightweight, efficientmechanism for protecting data. From an end-user viewpoint, a snapshotmay be thought of as an “instant” image of the primary data 112 at agiven point in time. In one embodiment, a snapshot may generally capturethe directory structure of an object in primary data 112 such as a fileor volume or other data set at a particular moment in time and may alsopreserve file attributes and contents. A snapshot in some cases iscreated relatively quickly, e.g., substantially instantly, using aminimum amount of file space, but may still function as a conventionalfile system backup.

A snapshot copy in many cases can be made quickly and withoutsignificantly impacting primary computing resources because largeamounts of data need not be copied or moved. In some embodiments, asnapshot may exist as a virtual file system, parallel to the actual filesystem. Users in some cases gain read-only access to the record of filesand directories of the snapshot. By electing to restore primary data 112from a snapshot taken at a given point in time, users may also returnthe current file system to the state of the file system that existedwhen the snapshot was taken.

Some types of snapshots do not actually create another physical copy ofall the data as it existed at the particular point in time, but maysimply create pointers that are able to map files and directories tospecific memory locations (e.g., disk blocks) where the data resides, asit existed at the particular point in time. For example, a snapshot copymay include a set of pointers derived from the file system or anapplication. Each pointer points to a respective stored data block, socollectively, the set of pointers reflect the storage location and stateof the data object (e.g., file(s) or volume(s) or data set(s)) at aparticular point in time when the snapshot copy was created.

In some embodiments, once a snapshot has been taken, subsequent changesto the file system typically do not overwrite the blocks in use at thetime of the snapshot. Therefore, the initial snapshot may use only asmall amount of disk space needed to record a mapping or other datastructure representing or otherwise tracking the blocks that correspondto the current state of the file system. Additional disk space isusually required only when files and directories are actually modifiedlater. Furthermore, when files are modified, typically only the pointerswhich map to blocks are copied, not the blocks themselves. In someembodiments, for example in the case of “copy-on-write” snapshots, whena block changes in primary storage, the block is copied to secondarystorage or cached in primary storage before the block is overwritten inprimary storage. The snapshot mapping of file system data is alsoupdated to reflect the changed block(s) at that particular point intime. In some other cases, a snapshot includes a full physical copy ofall or substantially all of the data represented by the snapshot.Further examples of snapshot operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,529,782, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Replication Operations

Another type of secondary copy operation is a replication operation.Some types of secondary copies 116 are used to periodically captureimages of primary data 112 at particular points in time (e.g., backups,archives, and snapshots). However, it can also be useful for recoverypurposes to protect primary data 112 in a more continuous fashion, byreplicating the primary data 112 substantially as changes occur. In somecases a replication copy can be a mirror copy, for instance, wherechanges made to primary data 112 are mirrored to another location (e.g.,to secondary storage device(s) 108). By copying each write operation tothe replication copy, two storage systems are kept synchronized orsubstantially synchronized so that they are virtually identical atapproximately the same time. Where entire disk volumes are mirrored,however, mirroring can require significant amount of storage space andutilizes a large amount of processing resources.

According to some embodiments storage operations are performed onreplicated data that represents a recoverable state, or “known goodstate” of a particular application running on the source system. Forinstance, in certain embodiments, known good replication copies may beviewed as copies of primary data 112. This feature allows the system todirectly access, copy, restore, backup or otherwise manipulate thereplication copies as if the data was the “live”, primary data 112. Thiscan reduce access time, storage utilization, and impact on sourceapplications 110, among other benefits.

Based on known good state information, the information management system100 can replicate sections of application data that represent arecoverable state rather than rote copying of blocks of data. Examplesof compatible replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication)are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, which is incorporated byreference herein.

Deduplication/Single-Instancing Operations

Another type of data movement operation is deduplication, which isuseful to reduce the amount of data within the system. For instance,some or all of the above-described secondary storage operations caninvolve deduplication in some fashion. New data is read, broken downinto blocks (e.g., sub-file level blocks) of a selected granularity,compared with blocks that are already stored, and only the new blocksare stored. Blocks that already exist are represented as pointers to thealready stored data.

In order to stream-line the comparison process, the informationmanagement system 100 may calculate and/or store signatures (e.g.,hashes) corresponding to the individual data blocks and compare thehashes instead of comparing entire data blocks. In some cases, only asingle instance of each element is stored, and deduplication operationsmay therefore be referred to interchangeably as “single-instancing”operations. Depending on the implementation, however, deduplication orsingle-instancing operations can store more than one instance of certaindata blocks, but nonetheless significantly reduce data redundancy.Moreover, single-instancing in some cases is distinguished fromdeduplication as a process of analyzing and reducing data at the filelevel, rather than the sub-file level.

Depending on the embodiment, deduplication blocks can be of fixed orvariable length. Using variable length blocks can provide enhanceddeduplication by responding to changes in the data stream, but caninvolve complex processing. In some cases, the information managementsystem 100 utilizes a technique for dynamically aligning deduplicationblocks (e.g., fixed-length blocks) based on changing content in the datastream, as described in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0084269, which isincorporated by reference herein.

The information management system 100 can perform deduplication in avariety of manners at a variety of locations in the informationmanagement system 100. For instance, in some embodiments, theinformation management system 100 implements “target-side” deduplicationby deduplicating data (e.g., secondary copies 116) stored in thesecondary storage devices 108. In some such cases, the media agents 144are generally configured to manage the deduplication process. Forinstance, one or more of the media agents 144 maintain a correspondingdeduplication database that stores deduplication information (e.g.,datablock signatures). Examples of such a configuration are provided inU.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, which is incorporated by referenceherein. Deduplication can also be performed on the “source-side” (or“client-side”), e.g., to reduce the amount of traffic between the mediaagents 144 and the client computing device(s) 102 and/or reduceredundant data stored in the primary storage devices 104. Examples ofsuch deduplication techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. Pub. No.2012/0150818, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Information Lifecycle Management and Hierarchical Storage ManagementOperations

In some embodiments, files and other data over their lifetime move frommore expensive, quick access storage to less expensive, slower accessstorage. Operations associated with moving data through various tiers ofstorage are sometimes referred to as information lifecycle management(ILM) operations.

One type of ILM operation is a hierarchical storage management (HSM)operation. A HSM operation is generally an operation for automaticallymoving data between classes of storage devices, such as betweenhigh-cost and low-cost storage devices. For instance, an HSM operationmay involve movement of data from primary storage devices 104 tosecondary storage devices 108, or between tiers of secondary storagedevices 108. With each tier, the storage devices may be progressivelyrelatively cheaper, have relatively slower access/restore times, etc.For example, movement of data between tiers may occur as data becomesless important over time.

In some embodiments, an HSM operation is similar to an archive operationin that creating an HSM copy may (though not always) involve deletingsome of the source data. For example, an HSM copy may include data fromprimary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 that is larger than a givensize threshold or older than a given age threshold and that is stored ina backup format.

Often, and unlike some types of archive copies, HSM data that is removedor aged from the source copy is replaced by a logical reference pointeror stub. The reference pointer or stub can be stored in the primarystorage device 104 to replace the deleted data in primary data 112 (orother source copy) and to point to or otherwise indicate the newlocation in a secondary storage device 108.

According to one example, files are generally moved between higher andlower cost storage depending on how often the files are accessed. When auser requests access to the HSM data that has been removed or migrated,the information management system 100 uses the stub to locate the dataand often make recovery of the data appear transparent, even though theHSM data may be stored at a location different from the remaining sourcedata. The stub may also include some metadata associated with thecorresponding data, so that a file system and/or application can providesome information about the data object and/or a limited-functionalityversion (e.g., a preview) of the data object.

An HSM copy may be stored in a format other than the native applicationformat (e.g., where the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated,and/or otherwise modified from the original application format). In somecases, copies which involve the removal of data from source storage andthe maintenance of stub or other logical reference information on sourcestorage may be referred to generally as “on-line archive copies”. On theother hand, copies which involve the removal of data from source storagewithout the maintenance of stub or other logical reference informationon source storage may be referred to as “off-line archive copies”.

Auxiliary Copy and Disaster Recovery Operations

An auxiliary copy is generally a copy operation in which a copy iscreated of an existing secondary copy 116. For instance, an initial or“primary” secondary copy 116 may be generated using or otherwise bederived from primary data 112, whereas an auxiliary copy is generatedfrom the initial secondary copy 116. Auxiliary copies can be used tocreate additional standby copies of data and may reside on differentsecondary storage devices 108 than initial secondary copies 116. Thus,auxiliary copies can be used for recovery purposes if initial secondarycopies 116 become unavailable. Exemplary compatible auxiliary copytechniques are described in further detail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195,which is incorporated by reference herein.

The information management system 100 may also perform disaster recoveryoperations that make or retain disaster recovery copies, often assecondary, high-availability disk copies. The information managementsystem 100 may create secondary disk copies and store the copies atdisaster recovery locations using auxiliary copy or replicationoperations, such as continuous data replication technologies. Dependingon the particular data protection goals, disaster recovery locations canbe remote from the client computing devices 102 and primary storagedevices 104, remote from some or all of the secondary storage devices108, or both.

Data Processing and Manipulation Operations

As indicated, the information management system 100 can also beconfigured to implement certain data manipulation operations, whichaccording to certain embodiments are generally operations involving theprocessing or modification of stored data. Some data manipulationoperations include content indexing operations and classificationoperations can be useful in leveraging the data under management toprovide enhanced search and other features. Other data manipulationoperations such as compression and encryption can provide data reductionand security benefits, respectively.

Data manipulation operations can be different than data movementoperations in that they do not necessarily involve the copying,migration or other transfer of data (e.g., primary data 112 or secondarycopies 116) between different locations in the system. For instance,data manipulation operations may involve processing (e.g., offlineprocessing) or modification of already stored primary data 112 and/orsecondary copies 116. However, in some embodiments data manipulationoperations are performed in conjunction with data movement operations.As one example, the information management system 100 may encrypt datawhile performing an archive operation.

Content Indexing

In some embodiments, the information management system 100 “contentindexes” data stored within the primary data 112 and/or secondary copies116, providing enhanced search capabilities for data discovery and otherpurposes. The content indexing can be used to identify files or otherdata objects having pre-defined content (e.g., user-defined keywords orphrases), metadata (e.g., email metadata such as “to”, “from”, “cc”,“bcc”, attachment name, received time, etc.).

The information management system 100 generally organizes and cataloguesthe results in a content index, which may be stored within the mediaagent database 152, for example. The content index can also include thestorage locations of (or pointer references to) the indexed data in theprimary data 112 or secondary copies 116, as appropriate. The resultsmay also be stored, in the form of a content index database orotherwise, elsewhere in the information management system 100 (e.g., inthe primary storage devices 104, or in the secondary storage device108). Such index data provides the storage manager 140 or anothercomponent with an efficient mechanism for locating primary data 112and/or secondary copies 116 of data objects that match particularcriteria.

For instance, search criteria can be specified by a user through userinterface 158 of the storage manager 140. In some cases, the informationmanagement system 100 analyzes data and/or metadata in secondary copies116 to create an “off-line” content index, without significantlyimpacting the performance of the client computing devices 102. Dependingon the embodiment, the system can also implement “on-line” contentindexing, e.g., of primary data 112. Examples of compatible contentindexing techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, which isincorporated by reference herein.

Classification Operations—Metabase

In order to help leverage the data stored in the information managementsystem 100, one or more components can be configured to scan data and/orassociated metadata for classification purposes to populate a metabaseof information. Such scanned, classified data and/or metadata may beincluded in a separate database and/or on a separate storage device fromprimary data 112 (and/or secondary copies 116), such that metabaserelated operations do not significantly impact performance on othercomponents in the information management system 100.

In other cases, the metabase(s) may be stored along with primary data112 and/or secondary copies 116. Files or other data objects can beassociated with user-specified identifiers (e.g., tag entries) in themedia agent 144 (or other indices) to facilitate searches of stored dataobjects. Among a number of other benefits, the metabase can also allowefficient, automatic identification of files or other data objects toassociate with secondary copy or other information management operations(e.g., in lieu of scanning an entire file system). Examples ofcompatible metabases and data classification operations are provided inU.S. Pat. Nos. 8,229,954 and 7,747,579, which are incorporated byreference herein.

Encryption Operations

The information management system 100 in some cases is configured toprocess data (e.g., files or other data objects, secondary copies 116,etc.), according to an appropriate encryption algorithm (e.g., Blowfish,Advanced Encryption Standard [AES], Triple Data Encryption Standard[3-DES], etc.) to limit access and provide data security in theinformation management system 100.

The information management system 100 in some cases encrypts the data atthe client level, such that the client computing devices 102 (e.g., thedata agents 142) encrypt the data prior to forwarding the data to othercomponents, e.g., before sending the data media agents 144 during asecondary copy operation. In such cases, the client computing device 102may maintain or have access to an encryption key or passphrase fordecrypting the data upon restore. Encryption can also occur whencreating copies of secondary copies, e.g., when creating auxiliarycopies. In yet further embodiments, the secondary storage devices 108can implement built-in, high performance hardware encryption.

Management Operations

Certain embodiments leverage the integrated, ubiquitous nature of theinformation management system 100 to provide useful system-widemanagement functions. As two non-limiting examples, the informationmanagement system 100 can be configured to implement operationsmanagement and e-discovery functions.

Operations management can generally include monitoring and managing thehealth and performance of information management system 100 by, withoutlimitation, performing error tracking, generating granularstorage/performance metrics (e.g., job success/failure information,deduplication efficiency, etc.), generating storage modeling and costinginformation, and the like.

Such information can be provided to users via the user interface 158 ina single, integrated view. For instance, the integrated user interface158 can include an option to show a “virtual view” of the system thatgraphically depicts the various components in the system usingappropriate icons. The operations management functionality canfacilitate planning and decision-making. For example, in someembodiments, a user may view the status of some or all jobs as well asthe status of each component of the information management system 100.Users may then plan and make decisions based on this data. For instance,a user may view high-level information regarding storage operations forthe information management system 100, such as job status, componentstatus, resource status (e.g., network pathways, etc.), and otherinformation. The user may also drill down or use other means to obtainmore detailed information regarding a particular component, job, or thelike.

In some cases the information management system 100 alerts a user suchas a system administrator when a particular resource is unavailable orcongested. For example, a particular primary storage device 104 orsecondary storage device 108 might be full or require additionalcapacity. Or a component may be unavailable due to hardware failure,software problems, or other reasons. In response, the informationmanagement system 100 may suggest solutions to such problems when theyoccur (or provide a warning prior to occurrence). For example, thestorage manager 140 may alert the user that a secondary storage device108 is full or otherwise congested. The storage manager 140 may thensuggest, based on job and data storage information contained in itsdatabase 146, an alternate secondary storage device 108.

Other types of corrective actions may include suggesting an alternatedata path to a particular primary or secondary storage device 104, 108,or dividing data to be stored among various available primary orsecondary storage devices 104, 108 as a load balancing measure or tootherwise optimize storage or retrieval time. Such suggestions orcorrective actions may be performed automatically, if desired. Furtherexamples of some compatible operations management techniques and ofinterfaces providing an integrated view of an information managementsystem are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated byreference herein. In some embodiments, the storage manager 140implements the operations management functions described herein.

The information management system 100 can also be configured to performsystem-wide e-discovery operations in some embodiments. In general,e-discovery operations provide a unified collection and searchcapability for data in the system, such as data stored in the secondarystorage devices 108 (e.g., backups, archives, or other secondary copies116). For example, the information management system 100 may constructand maintain a virtual repository for data stored in the informationmanagement system 100 that is integrated across source applications 110,different storage device types, etc. According to some embodiments,e-discovery utilizes other techniques described herein, such as dataclassification and/or content indexing.

Information Management Policies

As indicated previously, an information management policy 148 caninclude a data structure or other information source that specifies aset of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with secondarycopy or other information management operations.

One type of information management policy 148 is a storage policy.According to certain embodiments, a storage policy generally comprises alogical container that defines (or includes information sufficient todetermine) one or more of the following items: (1) what data will beassociated with the storage policy; (2) a destination to which the datawill be stored; (3) datapath information specifying how the data will becommunicated to the destination; (4) the type of storage operation to beperformed; and (5) retention information specifying how long the datawill be retained at the destination.

Data associated with a storage policy can be logically organized intogroups, which can be referred to as “sub-clients”. A sub-client mayrepresent static or dynamic associations of portions of a data volume.Sub-clients may represent mutually exclusive portions. Thus, in certainembodiments, a portion of data may be given a label and the associationis stored as a static entity in an index, database or other storagelocation.

Sub-clients may also be used as an effective administrative scheme oforganizing data according to data type, department within theenterprise, storage preferences, or the like. Depending on theconfiguration, sub-clients can correspond to files, folders, virtualmachines, databases, etc. In one exemplary scenario, an administratormay find it preferable to separate e-mail data from financial data usingtwo different sub-clients.

A storage policy can define where data is stored by specifying a targetor destination storage device (or group of storage devices). Forinstance, where the secondary storage device 108 includes a group ofdisk libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular disk libraryfor storing the sub-clients associated with the policy. As anotherexample, where the secondary storage devices 108 include one or moretape libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular tape libraryfor storing the sub-clients associated with the storage policy, and mayalso specify a drive pool and a tape pool defining a group of tapedrives and a group of tapes, respectively, for use in storing thesub-client data.

Datapath information can also be included in the storage policy. Forinstance, the storage policy may specify network pathways and componentsto utilize when moving the data to the destination storage device(s). Insome embodiments, the storage policy specifies one or more media agents144 for conveying data (e.g., one or more sub-clients) associated withthe storage policy between the source (e.g., one or more host clientcomputing devices 102) and destination (e.g., a particular targetsecondary storage device 108).

A storage policy can also specify the type(s) of operations associatedwith the storage policy, such as a backup, archive, snapshot, auxiliarycopy, or the like. Retention information can specify how long the datawill be kept, depending on organizational needs (e.g., a number of days,months, years, etc.)

The information management policies 148 may also include one or morescheduling policies specifying when and how often to perform operations.Scheduling information may specify with what frequency (e.g., hourly,weekly, daily, event-based, etc.) or under what triggering conditionssecondary copy or other information management operations will takeplace. Scheduling policies in some cases are associated with particularcomponents, such as particular sub-clients, client computing device 102,and the like. In one configuration, a separate scheduling policy ismaintained for particular sub-clients on a client computing device 102.The scheduling policy specifies that those sub-clients are to be movedto secondary storage devices 108 every hour according to storagepolicies associated with the respective sub-clients.

When adding a new client computing device 102, administrators canmanually configure information management policies 148 and/or othersettings, e.g., via the user interface 158. However, this can be aninvolved process resulting in delays, and it may be desirable to begindata protecting operations quickly.

Thus, in some embodiments, the information management system 100automatically applies a default configuration to client computing device102. As one example, when a data agent(s) 142 is installed on a clientcomputing devices 102, the installation script may register the clientcomputing device 102 with the storage manager 140, which in turn appliesthe default configuration to the new client computing device 102. Inthis manner, data protection operations can begin substantiallyimmediately. The default configuration can include a default storagepolicy, for example, and can specify any appropriate informationsufficient to begin data protection operations. This can include a typeof data protection operation, scheduling information, a target secondarystorage device 108, data path information (e.g., a particular mediaagent 144), and the like.

Other types of information management policies 148 are possible. Forinstance, the information management policies 148 can also include oneor more audit or security policies. An audit policy is a set ofpreferences, rules and/or criteria that protect sensitive data in theinformation management system 100. For example, an audit policy maydefine “sensitive objects” as files or objects that contain particularkeywords (e.g. “confidential,” or “privileged”) and/or are associatedwith particular keywords (e.g., in metadata) or particular flags (e.g.,in metadata identifying a document or email as personal, confidential,etc.).

An audit policy may further specify rules for handling sensitiveobjects. As an example, an audit policy may require that a reviewerapprove the transfer of any sensitive objects to a cloud storage site,and that if approval is denied for a particular sensitive object, thesensitive object should be transferred to a local storage device 104instead. To facilitate this approval, the audit policy may furtherspecify how a secondary storage computing device 106 or other systemcomponent should notify a reviewer that a sensitive object is slated fortransfer.

In some implementations, the information management policies 148 mayinclude one or more provisioning policies. A provisioning policy caninclude a set of preferences, priorities, rules, and/or criteria thatspecify how clients 102 (or groups thereof) may utilize systemresources, such as available storage on cloud storage and/or networkbandwidth. A provisioning policy specifies, for example, data quotas forparticular client computing devices 102 (e.g. a number of gigabytes thatcan be stored monthly, quarterly or annually). The storage manager 140or other components may enforce the provisioning policy. For instance,the media agents 144 may enforce the policy when transferring data tosecondary storage devices 108. If a client computing device 102 exceedsa quota, a budget for the client computing device 102 (or associateddepartment) is adjusted accordingly or an alert may trigger.

While the above types of information management policies 148 have beendescribed as separate policies, one or more of these can be generallycombined into a single information management policy 148. For instance,a storage policy may also include or otherwise be associated with one ormore scheduling, audit, or provisioning policies. Moreover, whilestorage policies are typically associated with moving and storing data,other policies may be associated with other types of informationmanagement operations. The following is a non-exhaustive list of itemsthe information management policies 148 may specify:

-   -   schedules or other timing information, e.g., specifying when        and/or how often to perform information management operations;    -   the type of secondary copy 116 and/or secondary copy format        (e.g., snapshot, backup, archive, HSM, etc.);    -   a location or a class or quality of storage for storing        secondary copies 116 (e.g., one or more particular secondary        storage devices 108);    -   preferences regarding whether and how to encrypt, compress,        deduplicate, or otherwise modify or transform secondary copies        116;    -   which system components and/or network pathways (e.g., preferred        media agents 144) should be used to perform secondary storage        operations;    -   resource allocation between different computing devices or other        system components used in performing information management        operations (e.g., bandwidth allocation, available storage        capacity, etc.);    -   whether and how to synchronize or otherwise distribute files or        other data objects across multiple computing devices or hosted        services; and    -   retention information specifying the length of time primary data        112 and/or secondary copies 116 should be retained, e.g., in a        particular class or tier of storage devices, or within the        information management system 100.

Policies can additionally specify or depend on a variety of historicalor current criteria that may be used to determine which rules to applyto a particular data object, system component, or information managementoperation, such as:

-   -   frequency with which primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 of        a data object or metadata has been or is predicted to be used,        accessed, or modified;    -   time-related factors (e.g., aging information such as time since        the creation or modification of a data object);    -   deduplication information (e.g., hashes, data blocks,        deduplication block size, deduplication efficiency or other        metrics);    -   an estimated or historic usage or cost associated with different        components (e.g., with secondary storage devices 108);    -   the identity of users, applications 110, client computing        devices 102 and/or other computing devices that created,        accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or        secondary copies 116;    -   a relative sensitivity (e.g., confidentiality) of a data object,        e.g., as determined by its content and/or metadata;    -   the current or historical storage capacity of various storage        devices;    -   the current or historical network capacity of network pathways        connecting various components within the storage operation cell;    -   access control lists or other security information; and    -   the content of a particular data object (e.g., its textual        content) or of metadata associated with the data object.        Exemplary Storage Policy and Secondary Storage Operations

FIG. 1E shows a data flow data diagram depicting performance of storageoperations by an embodiment of an information management system 100,according to an exemplary data storage policy 148A. The informationmanagement system 100 includes a storage manger 140, a client computingdevice 102 having a file system data agent 142A and an email data agent142B residing thereon, a primary storage device 104, two media agents144A, 144B, and two secondary storage devices 108A, 108B: a disk library108A and a tape library 108B. As shown, the primary storage device 104includes primary data 112A, 112B associated with a file systemsub-client and an email sub-client, respectively.

As indicated by the dashed box, the second media agent 144B and the tapelibrary 108B are “off-site”, and may therefore be remotely located fromthe other components in the information management system 100 (e.g., ina different city, office building, etc.). In this manner, informationstored on the tape library 108B may provide protection in the event of adisaster or other failure.

The file system sub-client and its associated primary data 112A incertain embodiments generally comprise information generated by the filesystem and/or operating system of the client computing device 102, andcan include, for example, file system data (e.g., regular files, filetables, mount points, etc.), operating system data (e.g., registries,event logs, etc.), and the like. The e-mail sub-client, on the otherhand, and its associated primary data 112B, include data generated by ane-mail client application operating on the client computing device 102,and can include mailbox information, folder information, emails,attachments, associated database information, and the like. As describedabove, the sub-clients can be logical containers, and the data includedin the corresponding primary data 112A, 112B may or may not be storedcontiguously.

The exemplary storage policy 148A includes a backup copy rule set 160, adisaster recovery copy rule set 162, and a compliance copy rule set 164.The backup copy rule set 160 specifies that it is associated with a filesystem sub-client 166 and an email sub-client 168. Each of thesesub-clients 166, 168 are associated with the particular client computingdevice 102. The backup copy rule set 160 further specifies that thebackup operation will be written to the disk library 108A, anddesignates a particular media agent 144A to convey the data to the disklibrary 108A. Finally, the backup copy rule set 160 specifies thatbackup copies created according to the rule set 160 are scheduled to begenerated on an hourly basis and to be retained for 30 days. In someother embodiments, scheduling information is not included in the storagepolicy 148A, and is instead specified by a separate scheduling policy.

The disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with the same twosub-clients 166, 168. However, the disaster recovery copy rule set 162is associated with the tape library 108B, unlike the backup copy ruleset 160. Moreover, the disaster recovery copy rule set 162 specifiesthat a different media agent 144B than the media agent 144A associatedwith the backup copy rule set 160 will be used to convey the data to thetape library 108B. As indicated, disaster recovery copies createdaccording to the rule set 162 will be retained for 60 days, and will begenerated on a daily basis. Disaster recovery copies generated accordingto the disaster recovery copy rule set 162 can provide protection in theevent of a disaster or other data-loss event that would affect thebackup copy 116A maintained on the disk library 108A.

The compliance copy rule set 164 is only associated with the emailsub-client 166, and not the file system sub-client 168. Compliancecopies generated according to the compliance copy rule set 164 willtherefore not include primary data 112A from the file system sub-client166. For instance, the organization may be under an obligation to storemaintain copies of email data for a particular period of time (e.g., 10years) to comply with state or federal regulations, while similarregulations do not apply to the file system data. The compliance copyrule set 164 is associated with the same tape library 108B and mediaagent 144B as the disaster recovery copy rule set 162, although adifferent storage device or media agent could be used in otherembodiments. Finally, the compliance copy rule set 164 specifies thatcopies generated under the compliance copy rule set 164 will be retainedfor 10 years, and will be generated on a quarterly basis.

At step 1, the storage manager 140 initiates a backup operationaccording to the backup copy rule set 160. For instance, a schedulingservice running on the storage manager 140 accesses schedulinginformation from the backup copy rule set 160 or a separate schedulingpolicy associated with the client computing device 102, and initiates abackup copy operation on an hourly basis. Thus, at the scheduled timeslot the storage manager 140 sends instructions to the client computingdevice 102 to begin the backup operation.

At step 2, the file system data agent 142A and the email data agent 142Bresiding on the client computing device 102 respond to the instructionsreceived from the storage manager 140 by accessing and processing theprimary data 112A, 112B involved in the copy operation from the primarystorage device 104. Because the operation is a backup copy operation,the data agent(s) 142A, 142B may format the data into a backup format orotherwise process the data.

At step 3, the client computing device 102 communicates the retrieved,processed data to the first media agent 144A, as directed by the storagemanager 140, according to the backup copy rule set 160. In some otherembodiments, the information management system 100 may implement aload-balancing, availability-based, or other appropriate algorithm toselect from the available set of media agents 144A, 144B. Regardless ofthe manner the media agent 144A is selected, the storage manager 140 mayfurther keep a record in the storage manager database 140 of theassociation between the selected media agent 144A and the clientcomputing device 102 and/or between the selected media agent 144A andthe backup copy 116A.

The target media agent 144A receives the data from the client computingdevice 102, and at step 4 conveys the data to the disk library 108A tocreate the backup copy 116A, again at the direction of the storagemanager 140 and according to the backup copy rule set 160. The secondarystorage device 108A can be selected in other ways. For instance, themedia agent 144A may have a dedicated association with a particularsecondary storage device(s), or the storage manager 140 or media agent144A may select from a plurality of secondary storage devices, e.g.,according to availability, using one of the techniques described in U.S.Pat. No. 7,246,207, which is incorporated by reference herein.

The media agent 144A can also update its index 153 to include dataand/or metadata related to the backup copy 116A, such as informationindicating where the backup copy 116A resides on the disk library 108A,data and metadata for cache retrieval, etc. After the 30 day retentionperiod expires, the storage manager 140 instructs the media agent 144Ato delete the backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A.

At step 5, the storage manager 140 initiates the creation of a disasterrecovery copy 116B according to the disaster recovery copy rule set 162.For instance, at step 6, based on instructions received from the storagemanager 140 at step 5, the specified media agent 144B retrieves the mostrecent backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A.

At step 7, again at the direction of the storage manager 140 and asspecified in the disaster recovery copy rule set 162, the media agent144B uses the retrieved data to create a disaster recovery copy 116B onthe tape library 108B. In some cases, the disaster recovery copy 116B isa direct, mirror copy of the backup copy 116A, and remains in the backupformat. In other embodiments, the disaster recovery copy 116C may begenerated in some other manner, such as by using the primary data 112A,112B from the storage device 104 as source data. The disaster recoverycopy operation is initiated once a day and the disaster recovery copies116A are deleted after 60 days.

At step 8, the storage manager 140 initiates the creation of acompliance copy 116C, according to the compliance copy rule set 164. Forinstance, the storage manager 140 instructs the media agent 144B tocreate the compliance copy 116C on the tape library 108B at step 9, asspecified in the compliance copy rule set 164. In the example, thecompliance copy 116C is generated using the disaster recovery copy 116B.In other embodiments, the compliance copy 116C is instead generatedusing either the primary data 112B corresponding to the email sub-clientor using the backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A as source data.As specified, compliance copies 116C are created quarterly, and aredeleted after ten years.

While not shown in FIG. 1E, at some later point in time, a restoreoperation can be initiated involving one or more of the secondary copies116A, 116B, 116C. As one example, a user may manually initiate a restoreof the backup copy 116A by interacting with the user interface 158 ofthe storage manager 140. The storage manager 140 then accesses data inits index 150 (and/or the respective storage policy 148A) associatedwith the selected backup copy 116A to identify the appropriate mediaagent 144A and/or secondary storage device 116A.

In other cases, a media agent may be selected for use in the restoreoperation based on a load balancing algorithm, an availability basedalgorithm, or other criteria. The selected media agent 144A retrievesthe data from the disk library 108A. For instance, the media agent 144Amay access its index 153 to identify a location of the backup copy 116Aon the disk library 108A, or may access location information residing onthe disk 108A itself.

When the backup copy 116A was recently created or accessed, the mediaagent 144A accesses a cached version of the backup copy 116A residing inthe media agent index 153, without having to access the disk library108A for some or all of the data. Once it has retrieved the backup copy116A, the media agent 144A communicates the data to the source clientcomputing device 102. Upon receipt, the file system data agent 142A andthe email data agent 142B may unpackage (e.g., restore from a backupformat to the native application format) the data in the backup copy116A and restore the unpackaged data to the primary storage device 104.

Exemplary Secondary Copy Formatting

The formatting and structure of secondary copies 116 can vary, dependingon the embodiment. In some cases, secondary copies 116 are formatted asa series of logical data units or “chunks” (e.g., 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4GB, or 8 GB chunks). This can facilitate efficient communication andwriting to secondary storage devices 108, e.g., according to resourceavailability. For example, a single secondary copy 116 may be written ona chunk-by-chunk basis to a single secondary storage device 108 oracross multiple secondary storage devices 108. In some cases, users canselect different chunk sizes, e.g., to improve throughput to tapestorage devices.

Generally, each chunk can include a header and a payload. The payloadcan include files (or other data units) or subsets thereof included inthe chunk, whereas the chunk header generally includes metadata relatingto the chunk, some or all of which may be derived from the payload. Forexample, during a secondary copy operation, the media agent 144, storagemanager 140, or other component may divide the associated files intochunks and generate headers for each chunk by processing the constituentfiles.

The headers can include a variety of information such as fileidentifier(s), volume(s), offset(s), or other information associatedwith the payload data items, a chunk sequence number, etc. Importantly,in addition to being stored with the secondary copy 116 on the secondarystorage device 108, the chunk headers can also be stored to the index153 of the associated media agent(s) 144 and/or the storage managerindex 150. This is useful in some cases for providing faster processingof secondary copies 116 during restores or other operations. In somecases, once a chunk is successfully transferred to a secondary storagedevice 108, the secondary storage device 108 returns an indication ofreceipt, e.g., to the media agent 144 and/or storage manager 140, whichmay update their respective indexes 150, 153 accordingly.

During restore, chunks may be processed (e.g., by the media agent 144)according to the information in the chunk header to reassemble thefiles. Additional information relating to chunks can be found in U.S.Pat. No. 8,156,086, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Workflow Engines Overview

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram illustrative of an embodiment of thenetworked storage system 100, described in greater detail above withreference to FIGS. 1A-1E. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 2, thestorage system 100 further includes workflow engines 161, a workflowmanager 109, and a user interface 111.

As illustrated, in certain embodiments, the storage manager 140 includesa workflow manager 109 as a separate component that is typicallyimplemented as a software module or application program. In someembodiments, the workflow manager 109 executes on a computing devicethat is distinct from the computing device on which the storage managerexecutes. In some embodiments, the workflow manager 109 implements aworkflow user interface 111 that enables a user to create, form, and/ormodify workflows, workflow suites, and/or workflow activities, as willbe described in greater detail below with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B.The workflow manager 109 can also deploy workflows to the workflowengines 161, as will be described in greater detail below with referenceto FIG. 5. As workflow activities are invoked, the workflow manager 109can determine which workflow engine 161 is to perform the workflowactivity based on an allocation scheme as will be described in greaterdetail below with reference to FIG. 5.

Generally speaking, the workflow engines 161 may be implemented assoftware modules that perform one or more data storage workflowactivities as part of an overarching workflow, as will be described ingreater detail below with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. The workflowengines 161 can be used to execute various workflow activities in orderto automate workflows. As such, the demands on system administrators canbe significantly reduced. The workflow engines 161 can be implemented onseparate computing devices, or form part of the storage manager 140,clients 102, media agents 144, and the like. When implemented asseparate computing devices, the workflow engines can be located remotelyor in close proximity to the storage manager 140, clients 102, and/ormedia agents 144, and can communicate with the other components via theone or more communication pathways 114.

As will be described in greater detail below with reference to FIG. 5,once a workflow is defined by a user, the workflow manager 109 candeploy the workflow to one or more of the workflow engines 161. Once theworkflow is deployed to one or more of the workflow engines 161, thestorage system 100 can monitor incoming data to determine if a workflowevent has occurred. For example, the storage system 100 can monitorincoming emails, status reports from the media agents 144 and storagedevices 136, etc. Once a workflow event has occurred, the storagemanager 140 can direct one or more of the workflow engines that includethe deployed workflow to perform a predefined workflow activity. Thestorage manager 140 can determine which workflow engine to use based onan allocation scheme.

Workflow User Interface

FIG. 3A depicts an illustrative user interface 300 that enables a userto create and/or modify a workflow for a networked storage system. Theworkflows can be used to automate one or more storage processes orprocedures and can reduce the amount of time spent by a systemadministrator monitoring those processes. As illustrated, the userinterface 300 includes various drop-down menus 302 and commands 304, aswell as various display objects 306. Different display objects 306 canbe viewed by selecting different groups 308, such as Automation, Base,Server, and Decisions. One skilled in the art will appreciate that thedisplay objects 306 can be organized, grouped, and displayed in avariety of different ways. The user interface 300 may be the userinterface 111 shown in FIG. 2, for example.

Each display object 306 can be associated with a different workflowactivity that includes pre-configured, computer-executable instructionsenabling a computing device to perform a specific operation or othertask. In some embodiments, the specific operation or task relates to theuse, configuration, administration, and/or maintenance of a networkedstorage system, such as the networked storage system 100. The displayobjects can be as numerous as the workflow activities, and can relate toa broad spectrum of types of activities, such as user access, datastorage operations, communications, storage system configuration,billing, account administration, and the like. For example, user accessdisplay objects may include a login display object 310 and a logoutdisplay object 312, among others. The login display object 310 can berelated to a login workflow activity that allows a user to access, orbegin, the workflow. For instance, execution of the login activity maylaunch a log-in screen prompting a user to enter their log-ininformation. Similarly, the logout display object 312 can be related toa logout workflow activity that allows a user to log out of, or end, theworkflow (e.g., by presenting a log-out interface on user interface).

Data storage operation display objects may include backup and restoredisplay objects 314, 316, restore display object 316, and the like. Thebackup and restore display objects 314, 316 can be associated withsimilarly named workflow activities that perform a backup and restoreoperations. For example, the backup workflow activity 314 can be anytype of secondary data copy, such as a snapshot copy, complete backup,archive copy, or the like. In some embodiments, each type of backupworkflow activity (e.g. secondary data copy, snapshot copy, completebackup, archive copy, deduplication, etc.) can be associated with adistinct display object. Moreover, the backup activity can perform thesecondary copy operation on a single data store or portions thereof, ormultiple data stores or portions thereof, as defined by the workflowactivity. The restore workflow activity 316 can be a restore of one ormore data stores, or a restore of portions of one or more data stores,such as of one or more particular files, folders or data clusters.

The status display object 318 can be associated with a status workflowactivity that determines the status of another workflow activity, suchas a restore or backup. The status display object 318 can be associatedwith the data storage operation display objects or can form part of ageneral display objects category that can be used with variouscategories, or types, of display objects.

Communication display objects may include email display object 320, SMSdisplay objects, fax display objects, computer-to-computer communicationdisplay objects or other display objects associated with communicationworkflow activities. For example, the email display object 320 can beassociated with an email workflow activity that sends an email to aparticular user based on different criteria. For example, if a backup orrestore fails, an email can be generated as part of an email workflowactivity and sent to a system administrator. Similarly, as part of oneor more workflow activities, an email can be generated to alert a userif a bill is due or if a particular service is about to end.

Similarly, storage system configuration display objects can beassociated with storage system configuration workflow activities, suchas a security check workflow activity, media agent maintenance workflowactivity, storage device expansion workflow activity, etc. For example,the security check workflow activity can review the data agents 142,media agents 144, clients 102, secondary storage devices 136, and thelike for security potential security updates. In some embodiments,should any security updates be available, the security check workflowactivity can update the component. In certain embodiments, a separateworkflow activity can update the component. Other storage systemconfiguration workflow activities can include software installationworkflow activities to install software to the various components of thenetworked storage system 100, storage device installation workflowactivities to configure and install a new secondary storage device 136as part of the system 100. For instance, in one embodiment, one or moreactivities of the workflow suite are configured to (1) discover orotherwise identify the clients in the system 100, (2) determine whetherthe individual clients have certain security software installed (e.g.,anti-virus software) and (3) for the clients not having the securityinformation installed, cause the security software to be downloaded;and/or (4) cause the security information to be installed.

Billing and account administration display objects can be associatedwith similarly named workflow activities. For example, billing workflowactivities can review billing information and monitor whether invoicesfor a particular account are up-to-date or past due. Accountadministration workflow activities can track and modify accountinformation, such as whether an account is active or suspended. Theaccount administration workflow activities can also be used to create,modify, or remove accounts and account information as desired.

Other display objects 322 can be associated with user-defined workflowactivities that perform actions as defined by the user. The illustratedexamples are not limiting. Rather, a large number of possible workflowactivities and corresponding display objects can be provided as part ofthe user interface 300, such as performing a storage policy lookup,retrieving client, media agent information, etc., and the like. Forexample, a storage policy lookup workflow activity can query the storagemanager or other device to determine the storage policy for the system.Other workflow activities can be used to modify the retrieved storagepolicy. Similarly a workflow activity can retrieve client 102, dataagent 142, media agent 144, and/or secondary storage device 136information from the desired system component. Other workflow activitiescan modify the properties or parameters of the selected system componentas desired. Furthermore, a user can interact with the workflow manager109 (e.g., the user interface 300) to create their own display objectsand associated workflow activities, or to group multiple workflowactivities together to form a larger workflow activity.

To create a workflow, a user can select one or more display objects 306and relocate the display objects 306 to a workflow modify area 324 ofthe user interface 300. In some embodiments, the user can “drag anddrop” the display objects 306 onto the workflow modify area 324. Theuser can also organize and relate the display object 306 as desired todefine a workflow for the storage system 100. For example, the user canmove the display objects around the workflow modify area 324 and thenconnect the display object 306 with connectors. Similarly, a user canmodify an existing workflow by adding, moving or removing one or moreworkflow activities from the workflow.

Workflow Example

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 3A, the user interface displays abackup/restore workflow 326. The backup/restore workflow 326 includesmultiple display objects that are associated with workflow activities.Due to the association between display objects and workflow activities,the components of the workflow 326 are referred to as display objectsand workflow activities interchangeably. For example, the display object330, which is associated with a login workflow activity is also referredto as the login workflow activity 330. The example workflow 326 is anexample, and is not to be construed as limiting. As will be described ingreater detail below with reference to FIG. 5, one or more workflowengines 161 can be used to carry the constituent workflow activities ofthe workflow 326. Furthermore, each time a workflow activity or group ofworkflow activities of the workflow 326 are invoked for execution, thesystem can determine which workflow engine 161 to use to carry out thecurrent workflow activity or group of workflow activities. To determinewhich workflow engine 161 to use, the system can use an allocationscheme and/or other information regarding the workflow engines 161.

Once the workflow 326 is initiated, the workflow manager 109 determineswhich workflow engine 161 will execute the next workflow activity, aswill be described in greater detail below with reference to FIG. 5. Insome embodiments, prior to each workflow activity being executed, theworkflow manager 109 identifies a workflow engine 161 to perform thecurrent workflow activity. In certain embodiments, the workflow enginethat performs the current workflow activity is predetermined. The firstworkflow activity of the workflow 326 includes a login workflow activity330 that allows a user to log into, or begin, the workflow 326. In someembodiments, as part of the login workflow activity 330, the systemdetermines whether the login has occurred or was successful. Thedetermination can be made by the workflow manager 109, workflow engine161, or other system component. For example, the login workflow activity330 can include a timeout threshold or a failed login attempts thresholdthat when reached can result in the login being unsuccessful. In certainembodiments, the determination of success, failure, completion and/orother status of a current workflow activity is itself a distinctworkflow activity. And, depending on the determination, differentsubsequent workflow activities can be invoked. For instance, if thelogin is unsuccessful an email workflow activity 332 shown as a failureemail is invoked. As determined by the email workflow activity 332, anemail is generated and sent by the system. The failure email workflowactivity 332 can define when the email is to be sent, to whom the emailis sent, and the contents of the email.

On the other hand, if the login workflow activity 330 is completedsuccessfully, a backup workflow activity 334 is invoked and a backup ofthe data storage devices referred to by the backup workflow activity 334begins. As mentioned previously, prior to performing the backup workflowactivity 334, the workflow manager 109 can identify a workflow engine toperform the backup workflow activity 334. The determination can be madebased on an allocation scheme, as will be discussed in greater detailbelow. As part of the backup workflow activity 334 and with reference toFIG. 2, the workflow engine 161 can instruct the storage manager 140 orthe media agent 144 to initiate and manage a secondary copy ofproduction data generated by one or more clients 102 to one or moresecondary storage devices 136. In some embodiments, a separate monitorbackup workflow activity 336 is also invoked. In certain embodiments,the monitor backup workflow activity 336 forms part of the backupworkflow activity 334. The monitor backup workflow activity 336 monitorsthe backup to determine if there are any errors and whether the backupis complete. The monitor backup workflow activity 336 can use apredetermined time to determine when the backup workflow activity 334should be completed. If any errors occur or if the backup workflowactivity 334 is not completed according to the monitor backup workflowactivity 336, the failure email workflow activity 338 is invoked and afailure email is sent as determined by the failure email workflowactivity 338.

On the hand, if the backup completes, the restore workflow activity 340and the monitor restore workflow activity 342 are invoked, similar tothe backup workflow activity 334 and the monitor backup workflowactivity 336, described above. The restore workflow activity 340 can beused to restore one or more of the secondary storage devices 136, orportions thereof, to one or more clients 102, and the monitor restoreworkflow activity 342 can be used to monitor the restore workflowactivity 340. If the restore is unsuccessful, failure email workflowactivity 344 is invoked similar to the failure email workflow activity338. Following the failure email workflow activity 344, the systemlogout workflow activity 348 is invoked to allow the user to logout of,or end, the backup/restore workflow 326. However, if the restoreworkflow activity 340 is completed, the email workflow activity is 346is invoked and a success email is generated and sent as determined bythe email workflow activity is 346. Following the email workflowactivity 346, the system logout workflow activity 348 is invoked, andthe workflow 326 is ended. Depending on the embodiment, the workflow 326can be altered and modified in a variety of ways, and differentworkflows can be created using different workflow activities as desired.

FIG. 3B depicts the user interface 300 and a display window 350displaying the properties of a workflow activity. In the illustratedembodiment, the display window 350 enables a user to view the propertiesof the backup workflow activity 314. Various tabs 352 of the displaywindow 350 relate to various properties of the backup workflow activity314.

In the illustrated embodiment, the inputs tab 354 is displayed alongwith various inputs 356 of the backup workflow activity 314. The variousinputs 356 are used by the backup workflow activity 314 to determineparameters of the backup or other secondary copy operation. For example,the inputs can be used to determine the type of backup, such as asnapshot or full backup. The input parameters can also determine whichclient, clients, or portions thereof are to be backed up. Additionally,the inputs can include which data agents will be used during the backupand any subclients within the clients that will be backed up. Otherinput parameters can be used, such as the frequency of the backup, atermination time of the backup or a time by when the backup needs to becompleted, certain criteria to determine which workflow engine 161should be used to handle the backup, etc. In some embodiments, a user isable to edit the properties of the backup workflow activity 314, such asthe inputs, as desired.

The display window 350 can similarly be used to view other properties ofthe backup workflow activity 314. For example, the display window 350can be used to display general information related to the backupworkflow activity 314, enter scripts, values, exit scripts and outputsof the backup workflow activity 314.

Workflow Creation and Modification

FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram illustrative of embodiments of a routine 400implemented by a storage manager 140 for modifying a workflow. Theelements outlined for routine 400 may be implemented by one or morecomputing devices/components that are associated with the storage system100. For example, routine 400 can be implemented by any one, or acombination of the storage manager 140, the workflow manager 109, theclient 102, the media agent 144, the workflow engines 161, and the like.Accordingly, routine 400 has been logically associated as beinggenerally performed by the storage manager 140, and thus the followingillustrative embodiment should not construed as limiting.

At block 402, the storage manager 140 transmits data to cause displayobjects associated with the workflow activities to be displayed on adisplay device associated with a user, similar to the display objects306 discussed previously with respect to FIGS. 3A and 3B. As mentionedpreviously, the workflow activities include computer-executableinstructions that enable a workflow engine 161 to perform a predefinedoperation or task. The display device can be associated with a clientcomputing device 102, a system administrator computing device, or otherdisplay device.

At block 404, the storage manager 140 receives indications to group asubset of the display objects. For example, when a user places one ormore display objects 306 within the workflow modify area 324, thestorage manager 140 can receive indications that the one or more displayobjects within the workflow modify area 324 form a group. The groupeddisplay objects 306 can be used to form a workflow, similar to theworkflow 326.

At block 406, the storage manager receives indications to order thesubset of the display objects. As a user arranges the one or moredisplay objects 306 within the workflow modify area 324, the storagemanager 140 can receive indications regarding the order of the displayobjects. The order can relate to the location of the display objectsfrom left-to-right, top-to-bottom, front-to-back, spiral, shapes,colors, a spatial location within the workflow modify area 324, such asdistance from center, side, top, or bottom, etc.

At block 408, the storage manager receives indications to relate thesubset of display objects. As a user relates display objects 306, thestorage manager 140 can receive indications regarding the createdrelationships. The user can use relationship indicators to denote arelationship between display objects. The relationship indicators can beimplemented using arrows, pointers, colors, numbers, letters, symbols,combinations thereof, and the like. In addition, the relationshipindicators can create various types of relationships including, but notlimited to, sequential relationships, parallel relationship, conditionalrelationships, and the like. For example, an arrow from one displayobject to another, such as the arrow from the backup 334 to the monitorbackup 336 can indicate that the backup workflow activity 334 is tobegin prior to the monitor backup workflow activity 336. Similarly, a“yes” arrow can indicate a conditional relationship between two or moredisplay objects.

At block 410, the storage manager generates a workflow suite based onthe group, order and/or relationship between the subset of displayobjects, and the workflow activities associated with the subset of thedisplay objects. The workflow suite can include the parameters,properties, and other information regarding the individual workflowactivities and the workflow as a whole. For example, the workflow suitecan include the order in which workflow activities occur within theworkflow, the relationship between different workflow activities,dependencies associated with the workflow activities, the inputs andoutputs of the different workflow activities, etc. In some embodimentsthe storage manager can review the display objects to ensure the order,relationship, and/or group are consistent and/or would not cause anerror. For example, the storage manager 140 can review the input andoutput properties of each workflow activity and check that the outputsof earlier workflow activities match the inputs of subsequent workflowactivities.

Additional, fewer, or different blocks can be used to implement theroutine 400 without departing from the spirit and scope of thedescription. For example, the storage manager 140, can receiveindications to order the display objects before, after, or at the sametime as receiving indications to relate the display objects. In someembodiments, the storage manager 140 receives the indications regardinggroups, order, and relationships at the same time that it generates theworkflow suite. In certain embodiments, the storage manager 140 receivesindications to include a subset of the display objects in the workflowin response to a user's interaction with the graphical user interface300. Once the indication is received, the storage manager 140 generatesa workflow suite that includes the subset of workflow activities thatcorrespond to the display objects included in the subset. As mentionedabove, the order and relationship between the workflow activities can bebased on user input via the user interface 300. In certain embodiments,the storage manager can receive indications to alter properties of aparticular display object. The properties may include, but are notlimited to, inputs, outputs, computer-executable instructions,dependencies on other display objects, etc.

Workflow Operation

FIG. 5 shows a flow diagram illustrative of embodiments of a routine 500implemented by a storage manager 140 for allocating workflow assignmentsbetween workflow engines 161. The flow diagram is not limiting, and theelements outlined for routine 500 may be implemented by one or morecomputing devices/components that are associated with the storage system100. For example, routine 500 can be implemented by any one, or acombination of the storage manager 140, the workflow manager 109, theclient 102, the media agent 144, the workflow engines 161, and the like.Accordingly, routine 500 has been logically associated as beinggenerally performed by the storage manager 140, and thus the followingillustrative embodiment should not construed as limiting.

At block 502, the storage manager 140 receives the workflow suiteassociated with a particular workflow from the workflow manager 109 Asmentioned previously, the workflow suite can include the parameters andinformation regarding a specific workflow. For example, the workflowsuite can include the order in which workflow activities occur withinthe workflow, the relationship between different workflow activities,dependencies associated with the workflow activities, the inputs andoutputs of the different workflow activities, and the like. As describedin greater detail above with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the workflowand many of the workflow parameters can be defined using the userinterface 300. In some embodiments the user interface 300, displayobjects 306, workflows, and workflow activities, are implemented usingan object-oriented computer language, such as Java, C++, C #, etc. Thestorage manager 140 can receive the workflow suite via a LAN, such as anorganization's internal network, or a WAN (e.g., the Internet).

At block 504, the storage manager 140 deploys the workflow suite to oneor more workflow engines 161. In some embodiments, the storage manager140 can use the workflow manager 109 to deploy the workflow suite to theworkflow engines 161. In some embodiments, as part of the deployment,the storage manager 140 additionally transmits the routines, processes,executable instructions, and other information sufficient to execute theindividual workflow activities to the workflow engines 161. In certainembodiments, the storage manager 140 can transmit the parameters of theworkflow suite that allow the workflow engines 161 to determine whichworkflow activities already stored on the workflow engines 161 are to beexecuted, and in what order. For example, the storage manager 140 cantransmit workflow activity identifiers, pointers, function calls, acombination thereof, and other appropriate information that allows theworkflow engines 161 to identify the workflow activities to execute andwhich order to execute them in.

The storage manager 140 can deploy the workflow suite to one or moreworkflow engines 161 based on the workflow engines 161 selected via theuser interface 300 or based on a deployment scheme The deployment schemecan be selected based on specific system design preferences, userpreferences, and can take into account a variety of factors. In someembodiments, the allocation scheme can be based on activity levels ofthe workflow engines 161. For example, the storage manager 140 candeploy the workflow suite to workflow engines 161 with low or mediumactivity levels prior to deploying workflow suite to workflow engines161 with high activity levels. A wide variety or combination of metricscan be used to determine the activity levels of the workflow engines161, and what constitutes “low,” “medium,” and “high” activity levelscan be determined by a user, as desired.

In some embodiments, the activity level can be based on the total numberof workflows (or total number of workflow suite) that have been deployedto individual workflow engines 161. For example, workflow engines havingat or above a threshold number of deployed workflows (or thresholdnumber of workflow suite) can be identified as having a high activitylevel, while workflow engines with fewer than a threshold number ofworkflows (or number of workflow suite) can be identified as having alow activity level. In some embodiments, workflow engines with workflowsuite between two thresholds can be identified as having a mediumactivity level.

In certain embodiments, the activity level can be based on the number ofcomputer processes or active computer processes on a workflow engine.The number of active processes can relate to the number of workflowactivities currently being performed by the workflow engine 161. Similarto the number of workflow suite, various thresholds can be set asdesired to determine the number of processes or active processes thatconstitutes “low,” “medium,” and “high” activity levels.

In some embodiments, the activity level can be based on a utilizationrate of a workflow engine 161. The utilization rate can be based on theamount, size and/or speed of the resources available to the workflowengine (e.g., processing speed, number of processors or processor cores,memory size and speed, communication rates, etc.) compared with howclose to capacity the resources are operated. For example, a processorof a workflow engine may be relatively slow, but on average only beoperating at 30% of its capacity, and therefore may have a lowutilization rate and low activity level. In contrast, a relatively fastprocessor with multiple cores may operate at 95% capacity on average andtherefore have a high utilization rate or high activity level.Additional metrics, or combinations thereof, can be used to determinethe activity level of a workflow engine.

In some embodiments, the deployment scheme can be based on resources(speed, size, memory, processor) of the workflow engines. In certainembodiments, the storage manager 140 may access a stored table or indexincluding a listing of the workflow engines 161 and associatedparameters (e.g., associated computing resources). As mentioned above,the resources can relate to the processing speed, number or processorsor cores, memory size and speed, and/or communication rates of aparticular workflow engine. For example, the deployment scheme may haveminimum resource requirements, such as minimum processing speed, memorysize, etc. Other deployment schemes may prefer older, smaller, or slowerresources.

In certain embodiments, the deployment scheme is based on physicalproximity to the workflow engines 161. For example, the deploymentscheme may have preference for workflow engines 161 that are physicallycloser to the storage manager 140 or a particular client 102, mediaagent 144, and/or secondary storage device 136. Similarly, thedeployment scheme can be based on the speeds of communication pathwaysbetween the workflow engines 161 and other components of the system 100.For example, the workflow may be time sensitive and the deploymentscheme may have a preference for faster communication pathways. Incertain embodiments, the workflow may be of low priority and thedeployment scheme may have a preference for slower communicationpathways to reserve the faster communication pathways for more importantworkflows.

In some embodiments, the deployment scheme can be based on failure ratesof the workflow engines 161. For example, the deployment scheme may havea preference for workflow engines 161 with failure rates below athreshold. Different workflows may have different failure ratethresholds depending on their priority and/or sensitivity levels. Incertain embodiments, the deployment scheme can also take into accountscheduled maintenance or down time. For example, some workflows may havespecific time constraints, such as being completed on a weekend. Thedeployment scheme can take into account the scheduled maintenance ordown time of workflow engines 161 to avoid deploying workflow suite toworkflow engines 161 that will be unavailable when workflow activitieswill be performed. The deployment scheme can also take into accountsoftware versions or updates. For example, workflow engines 161 with acertain software version number may be preferred over others, or thedeployment scheme may prefer prior that all workflow engines 161 thatwill receive the workflow suite have the same software version number.In some embodiments, the deployment scheme can use probabilisticdeterminations to identify the workflow engines 161 that will likelyhave sufficient bandwidth to handle future workflow activitiesassociated with the workflow. In certain embodiments, the deploymentscheme deploys the workflow suite to workflow engines 161 based on thecosts of operating or licensing the workflow engine.

In some embodiments, different workflow engines 161 are configured tohandle specific workflow activities, and the storage manager 140 deploysportions of the workflow suite to the different workflow engines basedon their configuration. For example one workflow engine may bespecifically configured to handle backup workflow activities, whileanother workflow engine may be specifically configured to handle storagepolicy requests. Based on these configurations, the storage manager 140can deploy the portions of the workflow suite that relate to backupstorage operations to the first workflow engine and deploy the portionsof the workflow suite that relate to storage policy requests to thesecond workflow engine.

With continued reference to FIG. 5, at block 506, the storage manager140 queries the workflow engines 161. As part of the query the storagemanager can obtain information related to the workflow engines that canbe used to allocate the initial workflow activity. The informationqueried from the workflow engines 161 can be based on an allocationscheme of the system 100, the storage manager 140, or the workflowitself, as will be described in greater detail below

At block 508, the storage manager 140 allocates the initial workflowactivity based on the allocation scheme. The allocation scheme can besimilar in many respects to the deployment scheme described above, andcan be used to determine which of the workflow engines 161 is to performthe initial workflow activity. Similar to the deployment scheme, theallocation scheme can be based on different factors, such as activitylevels, workflow engine resources, physical proximity, communicationpathway speeds, failure rates, schedule maintenance or down time,software versions, costs of operation, etc. In some embodiments, theallocation scheme takes into account a probabilistic determination thatthe initial workflow activity will be completed within a predeterminedtime frame. In some embodiments, the allocation scheme allows thestorage manager 140 to divide the initial workflow activity betweenworkflow engines. In this way, the initial workflow activity can becompleted more quickly. In some embodiments, the allocation schemedirects the selection storage manager 140 to select one or more workflowengines 161 from among the workflow engines 161 to which the workflowsuite has been deployed. In certain embodiments, the storage manager 140selects a different workflow engine to which the workflow suite has notalready been deployed.

The allocation scheme can direct the storage manager 140 to dynamicallyselect a workflow engine 161 for the initial workflow activity and foreach subsequent workflow activity. Thus, in some embodiments, prior toeach workflow activity, the storage manager 140 determines whichworkflow engine is to perform the current workflow activity.

In certain embodiments, as part of the allocation scheme, the storagemanager can select one or more workflow engines to perform multipleworkflow activities consecutively, or divide a group of workflowactivities between multiple workflow engines 161. As such, the storagemanager 140 can reduce the frequency of allocating workflow activitiesto one or more workflow engines 161. In some embodiments, the storagemanager 140 can select one or more workflow engines 161 to perform theentire workflow. Thus, each time a workflow event occurs, thepreselected workflow engines 161 are used to perform the currentworkflow activity. In such embodiments, the assigned workflow engines161 can determine when a workflow activity is to be performed and whichworkflow engine 161 will perform the workflow activity.

In certain embodiments, the allocation scheme directs the storagemanager 140 to determine whether a workflow engine that does not includethe deployed workflow suite is better suited for the initial workflowactivity. If the workflow engine that does not include the deployedconfiguration parameters is better equipped to perform the initialworkflow activity, the storage manager 140 assigns the initial workflowactivity to the different workflow engine. For example, the storagemanager 140 may determine that the workflow engines including thedeployed workflow suite are over utilized or lack sufficient bandwidthto complete the initial workflow activity within a given time.Alternatively, the storage manager 140 may determine that the differentworkflow engine is under-utilized or includes resources that are betterequipped to handle the initial workflow activity. Accordingly, thestorage manager 140 can deploy the entire workflow or portions thereofto the workflow engine that does not include the deployed workflow suiteand have that workflow engine execute the initial workflow activity.

Once the initial workflow activity is allocated, the storage manager 140determines whether another workflow activity from the workflow is to beallocated, as illustrated at block 510.

In some embodiments, to determine whether a workflow activity should beallocated, the storage manager 140 can monitor the workflow engine 161that is performing the initial workflow activity, other workflow engines161, and/or additional data, such as internal or externalcommunications, user input that relates to the workflow, requests toaccess the workflow, or other data. In certain embodiments, the storagemanager 140 can determine that a workflow activity is to be allocatedbased on an incoming email with predefined information. For example, anemail from a customer may include payment information or a request notto end services. In certain embodiments, the storage manager 140 candetermine that a workflow activity is to be allocated based on a messagefrom another client computing device 102, media agent 144, secondarystorage device 136, or external computer reporting an error or otherissue. For example, a secondary storage device 136 may send a messageindicating that a backup cannot be completed within a predetermined timeor that additional storage space is needed to complete the backup. Insome embodiments, the workflow engines 161 send a message that aparticular workflow activity has completed, succeeded, failed, timedout, or cannot be completed. In the event that the initial workflowactivity cannot be completed as desired, the workflow activity that isto be allocated can be the initial workflow activity to another workflowengine 161.

If the storage manager 140 determines that there is not another workflowactivity to be allocated, the storage manager 140 can end the routine500, as illustrated at block 516. On the other hand, if the storagemanager 140 determines that a workflow activity is to be allocated, thestorage manager queries the workflow engines, as illustrated at block512. The storage manager 140 can query the workflow engines 161 in amanner similar to that described above with reference to block 506.

At block 514, the storage manager 140 allocates the workflow activity oractivities based on the allocation scheme. Similar to the descriptionabove with reference to block 508 and the allocation of the initialworkflow activity, the storage manager 140 can allocate one or moreworkflow activities to one or more workflow engines based on theallocation scheme. The allocation scheme can take into account a varietyof factors to determine how the workflow activities are to be allocatedbetween the workflow engines 161. In some embodiments, the additionalworkflow activity can be allocated at the same time as the initialworkflow activity, after the initial workflow activity has begun or hasbeen completed, or upon the occurrence of some other event. Uponallocating the additional workflow activity 514, the storage manage candetermine if there are any additional workflow activities to beallocated, as described in greater detail above with reference to block510.

Additional, fewer, or different blocks can be used to implement theroutine 500 without departing from the spirit and scope of thedescription. For example, in some embodiments, block 506 can beconsolidated with block 512 and block 508 can be consolidated with block514. In such embodiments, once the workflow suite is deployed to theworkflow engines (block 504), the storage manager can determine if aworkflow activity is to be allocated (block 510). The workflow activitycan include the initial workflow activity. Once the storage manager 140determines that a workflow activity is to be allocated, the storagemanager 140 can proceed to blocks 512 and 514, as described in greaterdetail above.

Terminology

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Depending on the embodiment, certain acts, events, or functions of anyof the algorithms described herein can be performed in a differentsequence, can be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g., not alldescribed acts or events are necessary for the practice of thealgorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts or events can beperformed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing,interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or onother parallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware,hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardwaresuitable for the purposes described herein. Software and other modulesmay reside on servers, workstations, personal computers, computerizedtablets, PDAs, and other devices suitable for the purposes describedherein. Software and other modules may be accessible via local memory,via a network, via a browser, or via other means suitable for thepurposes described herein. Data structures described herein may comprisecomputer files, variables, programming arrays, programming structures,or any electronic information storage schemes or methods, or anycombinations thereof, suitable for the purposes described herein. Userinterface elements described herein may comprise elements from graphicaluser interfaces, command line interfaces, and other suitable interfaces.

Further, the processing of the various components of the illustratedsystems can be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and othercomputing resources. In addition, two or more components of a system canbe combined into fewer components. Various components of the illustratedsystems can be implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather thanin dedicated computer hardware systems. Likewise, the data repositoriesshown can represent physical and/or logical data storage, including, forexample, storage area networks or other distributed storage systems.Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between the componentsshown represent possible paths of data flow, rather than actualconnections between hardware. While some examples of possibleconnections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown cancommunicate with any other subset of components in variousimplementations.

Embodiments are also described above with reference to flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products. Each block of the flow chart illustrationsand/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions. Such instructions may be provided to a processorof a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagramblock or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to operate in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the acts specified in the flow chart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatusto cause a series of operations to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process suchthat the instructions which execute on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus provide steps for implementing the acts specifiedin the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the disclosure. Indeed, the novel methods and systems describedherein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the describedmethods and systems may be made without departing from the spirit of thedisclosure. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for allocating execution of a datastorage workflow suite within a networked data storage system, themethod comprising: causing a display to display a plurality of datastorage display objects, wherein the plurality of data storage displayobjects are associated with a plurality of data storage activities;receiving relationship data associated with the plurality of datastorage display objects, wherein the relationship data indicates anorder in which the data storage activities are to be performed for atleast first and second client computing devices having one or moreprocessors; with a first computing system comprising one or moreprocessors, generating a data storage workflow suite based at least inpart on the received relationship data, the data storage workflow suitecomprising executable instructions for carrying out the plurality ofdata storage activities, the plurality of data storage activitiesincluding at least (i) one or more backup storage activities in whichdata generated by the first and second client computing devices andresiding in primary storage is copied to and stored in secondarystorage, and (ii) one or more restore storage activities in which dataresiding in the secondary storage is restored to the primary storage;deploying the data storage workflow suite to a workflow engine whichexecutes on a second computing system comprising one or more processors;receiving an instruction to initiate the data storage workflow suite;based at least in part on the instruction to initiate the data storageworkflow suite, causing the workflow engine to execute the backupstorage activities, wherein executing the one or more backup storageactivities comprises: determining based on one or more parametersassociated with the one or more backup activities that a first dataagent will be used in implementing at least one of the one or morebackup storage activities, wherein the first data agent resides on thefirst client computing device and is configured to process first data inpreparation for backing up the first data, the first data generated by afirst application installed on the first client computing device,determining based on the parameters that a second data agent will beused in implementing at least one of the one or more backup storageactivities, wherein the second data agent resides on the second clientcomputing device and is configured to process second data in preparationfor backing up the second data, the second data generated by a secondapplication installed on the second client computing device, wherein thesecond application is of a different type than the first application,and the second data agent is of a different type than the first dataagent, identifying primary data that does not reside in the secondarystorage, wherein the primary data comprises one or more first filesresiding on a primary data store associated with the first clientcomputing device and one or more files residing on a primary data storeassociated with the second client computing device, copying the primarydata from the primary data store associated with the first clientcomputing device and the primary data store associated with the secondclient computing device, and storing the copied primary data in thesecondary storage; and based at least in part on the relationship dataof the data storage workflow suite, identifying a second data storageactivity of the data storage workflow suite to execute.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the workflow engine is a first workflow engine, themethod further comprising: deploying the data storage workflow suite toa second workflow engine which executes on a third computing systemcomprising one or more processors, wherein said executing the one ormore backup storage activities using the first workflow engine is basedat least in part on a selection of the first workflow engine accordingto an allocation scheme.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein theallocation scheme is based at least in part on at least one of:computing resources associated with the first workflow engine and one ormore of computing resources associated with the second workflow engine,physical proximity of the first workflow engine and the second workflowengine to other data storage system components, or communication pathwayspeeds between the other data storage system components and the firstworkflow engine and the second workflow engine.
 4. The method of claim2, further comprising based at least in part on the instruction toinitiate the data storage workflow suite, executing the one or morerestore storage activities using the second workflow engine based atleast in part on the allocation scheme.
 5. The method of claim 2,wherein deploying the data storage workflow suite to the first workflowengine and the second workflow engine is based at least in part on oneor more of computing resources associated with the first workflow engineand one or more of computing resources associated with the secondworkflow engine and geographic proximity of one or more components inthe networked data storage system to the first workflow engine and thesecond workflow engine.
 6. The method of claim 2, further comprisingobtaining information related to activity levels associated with thefirst workflow engine and the second workflow engine, wherein theallocation scheme and said executing the backup storage activity usingthe first workflow engine are based at least in part on the obtainedinformation related to activity levels associated with the firstworkflow engine and the second workflow engine.
 7. The method of claim6, wherein the obtained information related to activity levelsassociated with the first workflow engine and the second workflow enginecomprises information related to at least one of: a total number ofworkflow suites deployed on the first workflow engine and the secondworkflow engine, a total number of processes active on the firstworkflow engine and the second workflow engine, or utilization of thefirst workflow engine and the second workflow engine.
 8. A networkeddata storage system, comprising: one or more processors; a storagemanager including a workflow manager module executing on the one or moreprocessors and configured to: cause a display to display a plurality ofdata storage display objects, wherein the plurality of data storagedisplay objects are associated with a plurality of data storageactivities; receive relationship data associated with the plurality ofdata storage display objects, wherein the relationship data indicates anorder in which the data storage activities are to be performed; generatea data storage workflow suite based at least in part on the receivedrelationship data, the data storage workflow suite comprising executableinstructions for carrying out the plurality of data storage activities,the plurality of data storage activities including at least (i) one ormore backup storage activities in which data generated by first andsecond client computing devices and residing in primary storage iscopied to and stored in secondary storage, and (ii) one or more restorestorage activities in which data residing in the secondary storage isrestored to the primary storage; deploy the data storage workflow suiteto a workflow engine which executes on a second computing systemcomprising one or more processors; receive an instruction to initiatethe data storage workflow suite; based at least in part on theinstruction to initiate the data storage workflow suite, cause theworkflow engine to execute the backup storage activities, whereinexecution of the one or more backup storage activities causes theworkflow engine to: determine based on one or more parameters associatedwith the one or more backup activities that a first data agent will beused in implementing at least one of the one or more backup storageactivities, wherein the first data agent resides on a first clientcomputing device and is configured to process first data in preparationfor backing up the first data, the first data generated by a firstapplication installed on the first client computing device, determinebased on the parameters that a second data agent will be used inimplementing at least one of the one or more backup storage activities,wherein the second data agent resides on a second client computingdevice and is configured to process second data in preparation forbacking up the second data, the second data generated by a secondapplication installed on the second client computing device, wherein thesecond application is of a different type than the first application,and the second data agent is of a different type than the first dataagent, identify primary data that does not reside in the secondarystorage, wherein the primary data comprises one or more first filesresiding on a primary data store associated with the first clientcomputing device and one or more files residing on a primary data storeassociated with the second client computing device, copy the primarydata from the primary data store associated with the first clientcomputing device and the primary data store associated with the secondclient computing device, and store the copied primary data in thesecondary storage; and based at least in part on the relationship dataof the data storage workflow suite, identify a second data storageactivity of the data storage workflow suite to execute.
 9. The networkeddata storage system of claim 8, wherein the workflow engine is a firstworkflow engine and the workflow manager module is further configured todeploy the data storage workflow suite to a second workflow engine whichexecutes on a third computing system comprising one or more processors,and wherein the workflow manager module causes the first workflow engineto execute the backup storage activities based at least in part on aselection of the first workflow engine according to an allocationscheme.
 10. The networked data storage system of claim 9, wherein theallocation scheme is based at least in part on at least one of:computing resources associated with the first workflow engine andcomputing resources associated with the second workflow engine, physicalproximity of the first workflow engine and the second workflow engine toother data storage system components, or communication pathway speedsbetween the other data storage system components and the first workflowengine and the second workflow engine.
 11. The networked data storagesystem of claim 9, wherein based at least in part on the instruction toinitiate the data storage workflow suite, the workflow manager modulecauses the second workflow engine to execute the restore storageactivities based at least in part on the allocation scheme.
 12. Thenetworked data storage system of claim 9, wherein the workflow managermodule selects the first workflow engine and the second workflow enginefor deployment of the workflow suite from a pool of workflow engines,and wherein one or more other workflow engines from the pool of workflowengines are not selected.
 13. The networked data storage system of claim9, wherein the workflow manager module deploys the data storage workflowsuite to the first workflow engine and the second workflow engine basedat least in part on at least one of: one or more of computing resourcesassociated with the first workflow engine and one or more of computingresources associated with the second workflow engine, or geographicproximity of one or more components in the networked data storage systemto the first workflow engine and the second workflow engine.
 14. Thenetworked data storage system of claim 9, wherein the workflow managermodule is further configured to obtain information related to activitylevels associated with the first workflow engine and the second workflowengine, wherein the allocation scheme is based at least in part on theobtained information related to activity levels associated with thefirst workflow engine and the second workflow engine.
 15. The networkeddata storage system of claim 14, wherein the obtained informationrelated to activity levels associated with the first workflow engine andthe second workflow engine comprises information related to at least oneof: a total number of workflow suites deployed on the first workflowengine and the second workflow engine, a total number of processesactive on the first workflow engine and the second workflow engine, orutilization of the first workflow engine and the second workflow engine.16. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium comprisingcomputer-executable instructions that when executed by one or moreprocessors cause the one or more processors to: cause a display todisplay a plurality of data storage display objects, wherein theplurality of data storage display objects are associated with aplurality of data storage activities; receive relationship dataassociated with the plurality of data storage display objects, whereinthe relationship data indicates an order in which the data storageactivities are to be performed; generate a data storage workflow suitebased at least in part on the received relationship data, the datastorage workflow suite comprising executable instructions for carryingout the plurality of data storage activities, the plurality of datastorage activities including at least (i) one or more backup storageactivities in which data generated by first and second client computingdevices and residing in primary storage is copied to and stored insecondary storage, and (ii) one or more restore storage activities inwhich data residing in the secondary storage is restored to the primarystorage; deploy the data storage workflow suite to a workflow enginewhich executes on a second computing system comprising one or moreprocessors; receive an instruction to initiate the data storage workflowsuite; based at least in part on the instruction to initiate the datastorage workflow suite, cause the workflow engine to execute the one ormore backup storage activities, wherein execution of the one or morebackup storage activities causes the workflow engine to: determine basedon one or more parameters associated with the one or more backupactivities that a first data agent will be used in implementing at leastone of the one or more backup storage activities, wherein the first dataagent resides on a first client computing device and is configured toprocess first data in preparation for backing up the first data, thefirst data generated by a first application installed on the firstclient computing device, determine based on the parameters that a seconddata agent will be used in implementing at least one of the one or morebackup storage activities, wherein the second data agent resides on asecond client computing device and is configured to process second datain preparation for backing up the second data, the second data generatedby a second application installed on the second client computing device,wherein the second application is of a different type than the firstapplication, and the second data agent is of a different type than thefirst data agent, identify primary data that does not reside in thesecondary storage, wherein the primary data comprises one or more firstfiles residing on a primary data store associated with the first clientcomputing device and one or more files residing on a primary data storeassociated with the second client computing device, copy the primarydata from the primary data store associated with the first clientcomputing device and the primary data store associated with the secondclient computing device, and store the copied primary data in thesecondary storage; and based at least in part on the relationship dataof the data storage workflow suite, identify a second data storageactivity of the data storage workflow suite to execute.
 17. Thenon-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, whereinthe workflow engine is a first workflow engine and thecomputer-executable instructions when executed by one or more processorsfurther cause the one or more processors to deploy the data storageworkflow suite to a second workflow engine which executes on a thirdcomputing system comprising one or more processors, and wherein the oneor more processors cause the first workflow engine to execute the one ormore backup storage activities based at least in part on a selection ofthe first workflow engine according to an allocation scheme.
 18. Thenon-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, whereinthe allocation scheme is based at least in part on at least one of:computing resources associated with the first workflow engine andcomputing resources associated with the second workflow engine, physicalproximity of the first workflow engine and the second workflow engine toother data storage system components, or communication pathway speedsbetween the other data storage system components and the first workflowengine and the second workflow engine.
 19. The non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein based at least inpart on the instruction to initiate the data storage workflow suite, theone or more processors cause the second workflow engine to execute theone or more restore storage activities based at least in part on theallocation scheme.
 20. The non-transitory, computer-readable storagemedium of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors deploy the datastorage workflow suite to the first workflow engine and the secondworkflow engine based at least in part on at least one of: one or moreof computing resources associated with the first workflow engine and oneor more of computing resources associated with the second workflowengine, or geographic proximity of one or more components of a networkeddata storage system to the first workflow engine and the second workflowengine.